


Between Fatherly Love and Teenage Rebellion

by chiakuro



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Family, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22093156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiakuro/pseuds/chiakuro
Summary: With decent grades, a handful of friends and a cramped apartment, Kiryu Tetora lived an unremarkably average life. Though if you asked him he would tell you his was the best life imaginable, and there's only one reason for it; his loving father, Kiryu Kuro. Life is perfect just because he has his father. He thought for years that nothing could ever change that, but as it turns out...The worst part of high school was his dad getting married.
Relationships: Kiryuu Kurou/Morisawa Chiaki
Comments: 27
Kudos: 101





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this story is very near and dear to my heart and im really REALLY excited to share it. though it's long as all hell it's almost completely finished, so i should be able to update this somewhat frequently.
> 
> i hope there's somebody out there that'll enjoy it as much as i do!! thank you for reading in advance!

Sixteen year-old Kiryu Tetora leaned upon the ledge of the tall windows of his high-school classroom on a warm, rainy day in September. His classmates were in the middle of both lunch and a discussion he was taking a momentary lapse from participating in. The two of them were sitting at nearby desks, leaving him as the only one standing.

"So what's your paper gonna be about, Hajime?" Mashiro Tomoya asked.

Their first-year class had just been assigned a paper to write, the subject being something they're interested in, something they respect; essentially, someone or something they admire.

"I think I already know… I'm going to write about my family," Shino Hajime replied. "They've done so much for me, even when they didn't have to… how could I even think of basing it off anyone else?"

"Hey, that's respectable in itself! I should've expected you to say that, Hajime." Tomoya looked over to Tetora. "What about you? Any ideas?"

"Me?" Tetora grinned. "Well of _course_ , if it's gonna be about someone we admire, it's gotta be about my dad! Ain't no other option for me," he stated.

"Seriously? Yours is respectable too…" Tomoya rested his face in his palm. "You guys might make me rethink this… I just wanted to write about something cool, something like astronauts or some big celebrity, but you guys jotted down such considerate ideas so quick… Like, maybe I should just write about you two."

Hajime smiled. "You should write about whatever makes you happy… You can change your mind a lot, if you want to. I know that's one of your admirable qualities," he said.

"Agh, don't cast me as the indecisive one…" Tomoya looked over to the entrance of the room to find that someone just came back in. He sat up and called out to him, "Hey, what are you gonna write your paper about?"

Aoi Hinata looked surprised for all but a second before he grinned. "My cute little brother, of course!"

Tomoya's face landed on the desk.

Hajime giggled. "Yuta-kun? I think that's really sweet… but, I actually _do_ think it's nice there's at least one of us that isn't so decisive," he said, reaching over to pet Tomoya's hair.

Tomoya mumbled something to himself, something unintelligible to Tetora, but Hajime seemed to hear it clearly. He softly nodded, his smile exposing his teeth just slightly. He looked over to Tetora. "You talk about your dad a lot. He must be a nice man," he said.

"Nice don't cut it. He's the coolest, most manly guy on earth! He's all I need to live." Tetora grinned big before his mouth fell down to something more somber. "But it makes me feel all fuzzy that you guys get to be so close to your siblings. I'm happy with my dad 'n all, but man, I'd really love to have a younger brother like you guys," he sighed with arms crossed.

"If Tetsu-kun's really, _really_ good, maybe your dad will ask the stork to give you a baby brother!" Hinata intruded.

"A baby? That sounds too tough. Think I'd rather ask him to skip a few years on that."

Tomoya's head popped back up from the desk. "That's human life, you know, you can't just skip whatever's annoying," he said.

"Why not? Why do I have to get a baby?" Tetora asked in earnest.

"Well… What am I supposed to say?" Tomoya laughed. "The day storks actually start delivering babies they'll probably be able to accelerate the baby's age, too!"

All the others in their group started to laugh with Tomoya. Tetora chuckled with them uncomfortably, trying his hardest to stay casual and keep his feelings from being hurt by an innocent conversation. He looked around the room before his eyes got caught. Takamine Midori, laying on his desk with his arms crossed under his head, turned over to look at Tetora. He couldn't understand why, but he felt like Midori was trying to convey something very specific to him through his emphasized presence, trying to convey something with that light bouncing off his teal eyes.

It must've gotten warmer outside, because Tetora started to sweat. The others were still talking but all he could hear was the rain pounding against the building.

ー

Who does Tetora admire? Who does he love and cherish above all else?

Even if a thousand different people asked him ten-thousand times, Tetora would answer the question the same to every single one of them; his father, Kiryu Kuro.

Ever since the day they were brought together, Tetora has been close to his father. His father is a beacon of light guiding him through the desert to the oasis of an ideal he's always wanted to reach. He's strong, talented, he possesses unrivaled drive and courage; Tetora admired every bit of him. Every drop of his blood, every string of DNA, every atom that made up his physical form.

Though, maybe that isn't _exactly_ true. If he were to pick and choose, there’d be only one part of him he could do without; how the people he attracts are weird by nature. He'd never met an acquaintance or colleague of his that didn't puzzle his brain. Most of them he only met in passing, like the cautious man at the grocery store with a light pink head of hair and a basket of bread, the man on the street who wore glasses but possessed sharp eyes who criticized his father's choice to dye less of his hair rather than stop completely, or the short blond man who started to talk funny when he stood next to the taller teenage Tetora.

They were weird, but Tetora only had to be aware of them for the time it took for his father to finish catching up with them. One conversation, one small event and they walked away and back out of their life. It was rare for them to come to the house and linger, but each and every time someone came over Tetora found himself holed up in his room.

He respects his father, his choices, his relationships, but again; all of them are truly strange people.

Tetora peeked out from the door of his room to check on his dad and their guest. He hadn’t heard any chatter for the past few minutes and was hoping whoever his dad had invited over decided to call it a night and left.

Unfortunately his friend, some guy with short brown hair and a similar color for his eyes, was still there. They were sitting with each other on the couch and Tetora could see that they _were_ still talking, but, for whatever reason, they had switched over to hushed tones. Their guest shook like a bundle of nerves on top a washing machine that were barely sticking together, a closer inspection revealing his eyes were stained red like he’d recently been crying. Kuro's arm was draped over his shoulder, his spare hand tightly intertwined with the other's hand.

It's weird like always, but Tetora didn’t think too hard about anything he saw. It didn't leave him with any questions to ask. He just wanted him to hurry up and leave so he could come out and eat dessert with his dad, like he was promised they would.

When the time came, Tetora spooned some ice cream into his mouth. He wasn’t particularly interested in finding out more about any of his dad’s friends, he was glad to see him gone, but he figured he should pry just to make conversation.

“So who was that guy that was over?” He asked with a mouthful of food.

“Ah, he’s just a friend of mine,” Kuro replied, his mouth full of just as much ice cream. “Sorry he came over so sudden. I had to help him out with something.”

Tetora nodded in place of a response, and the conversation was dropped.

He hadn’t thought of it again until the same friend made another appearance not too far from his last. The two visits weren’t _too_ close together, but since they didn’t get guests often it seemed a little strange. He peeked out from the door of his bedroom again, checking on them for a different reason than last time. Because rather than being quiet, they were being loud. Loud and annoying.

It was the same scene; they sat together on the couch watching TV. They had on some weird show where people shouted nonsense while bright colors flashed behind them and they seemed to actually be watching it, unlike last time when it seemed to be on just for the sake of it being on. Not only were they actually watching it, but the brunette, whose name he had probably been told and just forgot, was going completely ballistic.

“Did you see that, Kiryu?!” He shouted. “Can you believe that happened? That was so cool!”

Kuro laughed. “Yeah, I saw it. Don’t worry. I’m watchin’." He had a huge grin on his face. Tetora didn’t see that often. “Didn’t you say you watched this before? It seems more like you’re seein’ all this for the first time. You’re gettin’ real loud.”

“How am I supposed to contain myself when everything’s only gotten cooler the fourth time around?!” Their guest exclaimed, patting on Kuro’s thigh.

“The fourth?” Kuro blinked and moved his hand to cover the one on his leg. “You're telling me you've watched this four times already?”

“No, this _is_ the fourth time! I know exactly when all the best parts are going to happen, so I’m tasked with the noble duty of making sure you’re properly digesting every awesome second!”

The massive grin on his friend's face was insane. Tetora closed the door to his room, went back to his bed and slipped on his pair of headphones.

_Weird._

After that night had passed, Tetora hadn’t seen nor heard of the man who he came to see as an unwelcome guest for a week. Once he got on that one week streak of having him and his dad’s apartment all to themselves, he stopped thinking about it entirely. The first time he'd thought of it in awhile, his thoughts were interrupted halfway through when he spotted one of his classmates sulking alone under the shade of a tree.

“Midori-kun?” He asked, calling out to him.

Midori's head perked up to look at Tetora, but he didn't respond. His eyes stared right through him.

“What's up? You alright?” Tetora asked while he settled down some distance beside him. 

Usually it was a good sign if Midori was willing to look him in the eyes, but he sighed and broke eye contact. “I'm fine, I guess… but I'm gonna feel way better after I die.”

“Die?! You shouldn't say stuff like that. You need someone to talk to?"

“No, I don't wanna talk about it,” Midori practically whispered. His voice was always soft, but he sounded completely deflated. He was deflated, like he was a plump balloon and someone shot at him point blank with a nail gun. He could even hear the sound of helium rushing out of a speeding balloon in his head.

“C'mon, you'll feel better if you let it out.” Tetora gave him a hard pat on the back and the loud, irritated groan he let out chilled him all the way through his bones.

Tetora waited a minute for a response, and when he got nothing he gave up to eat the bread he was holding in silence. He got a few bites in before his concern found him looking back over. Midori didn't have any food of his own, and he knew from his own personal experiences that the fastest way to get pissy is to run on an empty tank of gas.

“You don't got anything to eat? You can have some of mine,” he offered with a gesture. “Might just feel bad 'cuz you got an empty stomach, y'know.”

Midori shook his head with an inappropriate amount of vigor. “No, please get that bread away from me… I already ate everything I brought,” he said, accompanied with a heavy sigh. “I just picked up binge eating. It's the only way I can cope.”

Tetora groaned. “Binge eating? To cope? You can't keep droppin’ me hints that you're upset and not tell me what's wrong,” he said, exasperated.

"Don't wanna…" Midori looked at Tetora, and Tetora looked back at him.

He cracked under the pressure.

“It's my dad,” he started and then paused, staring at the ground. “He’s going out with this new guy, and he won't stop talking to me about him, even though I keep telling him to shut up and that I don't wanna hear it.”

“So your dad's gay? That’s your problem?” Tetora blurted out.

Midori shot Tetora a bored but hostile glare.

"Sorry, you should finish,” Tetora said.

“Fine, but don’t interrupt me again… his boyfriend’s supposed to come over to our house tonight, and my dad's obviously gonna force me to talk to him…” Midori dropped his head into his arms. “If I don't wanna talk about him, I definitely don't wanna talk _to_ him.”

"It can't be that bad. Like, maybe it’ll be nice. Dontcha think you're bein' kinda dramatic about it?"

Midori went silent. He went silent, which meant he said the wrong thing. Tetora had felt awkward the whole time they'd been talking, but it was too much for him now.

He's friends with Midori. They aren't close, but they're friends enough where Tetora thought making him feel better would be an easily reached goal. Or so he had thought, but Midori's silence made him wish he hadn't tried. There was nothing more embarrassing than trying to extend an arm to someone only for it to backfire and make him feel like he had a forty pound weight labeled "AWKWARD" balancing on the top of his head. As if it had been written onto his forehead in permanent marker.

Embarrassment never found a way into his comfort zone. If he found out there was someone close enough to bear witness to how badly this was going he would fall over dead from the heat in his face alone.

"Uh, y'know, when my dad's got people over I just hide in my room. Always works for me," Tetora awkwarded out awkwardly.

Midori let out a muffled groan before lifting himself up slightly to speak clearly. "That never works… He drags me out against my will. You don’t get it, my dad is seriously terrible."

"He, like, literally drags you?"

"Kind of?" Midori sighed. "The details aren't important."

Tetora blinked. "Well, it sounds like an important detail to me."

Midori didn't reply. By the time Tetora was ready to breach conversation again, their lunch break was already over.

Try as he might, he couldn't get their confrontation off his mind and ended up avoiding Midori for the rest of the day. Which, even though he obviously couldn't help, made him feel guilty. His eyes didn't stray from the road in front of him for the whole walk back home. Though the fall weather had started settling in early he hadn't paid any mind to even a single leaf, not even the slight draft making its way through his blazer.

After Tetora arrived home, the first thing he noticed was the telltale signs his dad beat him home. He was home and he was cooking, even though his dad was usually still at work when he got home from school. Tetora set down his bag and took off his shoes in a hurry to run over to him.

“I’m home!” Tetora shouted, enthusiasm filling his mental cup to the brim.

Kuro turned to him. “Hey, Tetsu, welcome home,” he said with a smile. He abandoned the stove to ruffle Tetora's hair.

He swatted Kuro’s hand away from his head, but remained otherwise unphased. “You're home so early! Are you cooking? What’re you cookin’?!" Tetora grinned from ear to ear, his words escaping from his brain as fast as they came.

"I'm making dinner," Kuro said.

"Why? Can I help?”

“It'll help if you wash the dishes.”

Tetora stopped smiling. “But I wanna help you cook! I don’t wanna do the dishes.”

“That’s too bad, ‘cuz everything’s already prepared, so all we gotta do is wait,” Kuro said as he walked over to the sink. “Wait ‘n wash some dishes.”

“I guess that’s fine, then…” Tetora's voice trailed off and refused to hide his disappointment.

“C’mon, it’s not so bad if we both do it. That's why I need your help.”

He only huffed a smidge more before he manned the station next to his dad to do the dishes in a pleasant silence. He continued to pout even as he rinsed and dried the clean dishes Kuro handed him. He put actual effort into seeming like he was upset about it.

As much as he loved his dad, it was embarrassing to admit that he had fun with even the worst chores when they tackled them together. Even if Kuro probably knew it already. Every time that relaxed smile rests on his dad's face, it gives all his secrets away.

Kuro sniffed the air and put the dish he was holding back down into the sink. "Almost forgot I gotta stir the food," he said.

Tetora realized something smelled _really_ good. "The food?" He looked over his shoulder at the stove. "I forgot there was something on the stove!"

"Guess I did a great job distracting you."

Tetora brought his attention back to the bowl in his hand, slowly wiping it dry with his hand towel. He stared blankly at his side of the sink after setting it down. His dad was back beside him within a minute.

"Don't make that face. We only got a few left. Promise," he said.

Apparently Tetora was making a _face_. Given a minute to himself he found questions bubbling up at his throat like he just popped the tab off a can of sparkling water, but he had another dish to rinse by the time he opened his mouth again. "You said that's supposed to be dinner, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why're you making dinner _now_? Same reason you're home so early?"

"Yeah, same reason," Kuro handed Tetora another bowl. “I'm having dinner at my friend's house tonight 'nd I don't want you goin' hungry while I'm out.”

"Wouldn't happen! I can cook for myself," Tetora objected, looking over at his dad. "It must be that one guy, right?”

“Not sure who that’s ‘sposed to be, but he was here about… think it was two weeks ago.”

“Yeah, that guy! He was here a few days before that too.”

Kuro chuckled. “Yeah, we've been hanging out a lot lately."

Tetora furrowed his brows. "Why? He had these, like, weirdo vibes to him."

"Oh, so you think he's weird? I guess weird people just kinda flock to each other without thinking."

"You're not weird! I did not say that."

"Oh, I didn't think you did. I thought that was my voice?" Kuro chuckled at his own joke and Tetora cringed in response. "I’ve just been thinkin’ since he really ain't that great a cook, I'm probably gonna cook when I get over there."

"Even though you're his guest?"

Kuro shrugged and handed Tetora the last dish in the sink. "Depends on if he'll let me. Might not."

Tetora saved his retort for after he finished drying the final plate. "If you were plannin' on doing that, I woulda cooked for myself," he pouted. "If he ain't great, I would definitely cook you guys some food better than _he_ could."

Kuro raised his eyebrows in shock. "You wanna come, then? I'm sure he'd love to have you."

Tetora blinked. Did he want to come? Was cooking dinner with his dad at someone else’s house an option the entire time? Tetora rolled the idea over in his head not unlike a log speeding down a hill.

Spending time with his dad is his favorite thing in the world. He wouldn’t really be spending time with him, though, but rather his friend would probably take up most of their time being annoying and weird, but he _never_ gets any chances to cook with his dad, because it’s “dangerous” and he “doesn’t want the house to burn down”, which wouldn’t be an issue if it was someone else’s house because even if he got in trouble for setting fire to it they’d still have their house and they’d get to go home and try cooking dinner again. At the rate his dad lets him help out, it's the most consistent way to get in extra practice with him he’s ever thought of. Though, there was always the possibility that his friend was stubborn and selfish and wouldn’t let Tetora burn his house down at all.

Tetora’s train of thought veered off the tracks, rolled three times and crashed upside-down in a ditch. What was he even trying to decide?

“Tetsu?” Kuro’s voice was tinged with concern, as if he could see the smoke coming out from Tetora’s ears. Smoke from the house he set fire to. “You don’t have to think about it that hard. You can just say no.”

Tetora blinked rapidly. "Uhh, no," he said, his delivery flippant and uncertain.

Kuro nodded. “Alright, then. Since we’re all done here, I’m gonna finish getting ready. You wanna stir the food for me?"

The light in Tetora's eyes shined overwhelmingly bright. "Yes, sir!"

"No touching the temperature. I promise the food’s all cooked."

Tetora’s excitement left as soon as it came. "Yes, sir."

Kuro left the room and Tetora got to stirring. He wasn't exactly sure what to call what he was looking at; but the important part was the mix of beef, vegetables and sauce was making him drool. He couldn't be surprised, and, in fact, he wasn’t, because his dad is a good cook.

He stirred, and stirred some more. He has to make sure his dad's efforts aren't wasted.

He fished his phone out of his pocket with his free hand. Neither his phone or stirring the food could distract him from the queasy feeling he had. He was hung up, because the concept of his dad being gone for dinner was weird. Bizarre. Even though he has a life beyond being Tetora's primary caretaker, it always gets wrapped up before it's time to eat even if it means they end up eating late. He _always_ makes it home for dinner. It was weird, because even when Kuro went out for dinner he always brought something home. Weird, because this guy who didn't even _exist_ in their lives until now keeps coming up again, and again, and... again.

Tetora dug his heels deeper in the dirt. Whoever this guy is, he sucks.

By the time Kuro came out of his room Tetora's arm felt like it was about to fall off. 

"Are you done?" Tetora asked.

“Yup, ready to go. Food should be done, too,” Kuro said.

“So I can stop stirring now? That’s great! My arm’s startin’ to hurt real bad. I’m ready to stop.”

Kuro looked confused. “What, you been stirring it the entire time?”

“Yeah, like you asked!” The confusion spread to Tetora. “Right?”

Kuro gave him a crooked smile, a suppressed giggle escaping when he opened his mouth. “Yeah, thanks bud.”

Tetora, faced toward his dad, looked at the kitchen counter with his mouth straightened in a line. The realization sped into him that their time together was over, and there wouldn't be anymore until tomorrow afternoon. When he looked back up Kuro held his arms open and Tetora flew in for a hug, squeezing him as if he’d never see him again.

“I might be back in time for dessert. Don’t look so glum,” Kuro said, planting a kiss on the top of Tetora’s head.

Tetora withdrew and pushed Kuro away with a few smacks. He was out the door within a minute.

A few hours after he left, Tetora cracked into his dinner in front of the TV. Somewhere in between bites he remembered what Midori told him at school, the memory leaving him all the more perplexed about his dad’s plans. It was a really weird coincidence for one of their dads to be a guest to someone's dinner and the other to have a dinner guest on the same day.

He considered, for just a moment, that it wasn’t a coincidence and their dads were both having dinner together at that very moment, but Midori specifically said his dad invited over his _boyfriend_ , and Kuro told him exactly who he was eating with. Which meant it had to be a coincidence, and nothing more. Maybe it was national “Dads Go Out For Dinner” day or something. He wasn’t really worried about it.

He was hanging out on the couch, hoping to catch Kuro once he got home so he wouldn’t have to waste a second before welcoming him back. His eyes started to get heavy during a commercial break, and the next thing he was awake in his bed with a thousand unread texts. All of them were from his father, and read along the lines of “sorry, gonna be late, make sure you eat, brush your teeth, etcetera, etcetera”.

He dreaded going to school after the conversation he had with his depressed classmate the day before, but he had to get ready to go whether he wanted to or not. Dressed and almost ready to leave, he left his room to see Kuro cooking again.

“Good mornin’,” Kuro said.

“Mornin’, Dad,” Tetora replied, settling himself down at the table.

“Breakfast’ll be done in a minute or so,” Kuro said, pausing for a moment before he continued. “Couch treat you alright last night?”

“Mm, yeah, didn’t mean to fall asleep though. I was just waitin’.”

“Sorry ‘bout that. Ended up gettin’ home a whole lot later than I thought I would.”

Tetora yawned. “‘S okay.”

Kuro put a plate of food in front of Tetora and sat down across from him. Neither of them had much else to say before Tetora left the house to start another day of awkward school interactions.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since i haven't found an organic way to put this information in no matter how much i thought of it; in this fic Kuro is 36 years old and Chiaki is 37. due to the time of year both Tetora and Midori are 16
> 
> thank you for reading in advance i love you!!!!!!

Tetora took only one step inside the school gates before he got pounced on.

"Oh, Tetsu-kun, what a strange coincidence it is for us to get here at the exact same time," said whoever slung their arms around Tetora's neck, one glance at the orange hair hanging over his shoulder confirming what he already knew.

"Nah, I don't think it is. It happens pretty often," Tetora replied. "Though I kinda wish it _was_ strange for you to jump on me like that."

Hinata giggled and released Tetora from his grip. "Soo harsh, buzzkill! Did you fall off the bed this morning? Eat a honey bee that came to take back the honey on your toast? Something bad had to have happened for you to take it out on me _this_ early."

Tetora gripped his bag. "I wouldn't put it like that. It's... whatever."

"Oh-kay, if you say so! Maybe you'll tell me later," Hinata said, rubbing Tetora's shoulder and taking over his personal space. "You can always talk to me."

Hinata looked pleased with himself, but Tetora just wanted to get to class. Since they were in the same class they showed up together, at the same time, which Hinata said, again, was a crazy coincidence even though the death grip he had on Tetora’s arm begged to differ. _Pleaded_ to differ. 

Tetora gave an anxious glance over at Midori’s desk to see him lying on it face-down, which was a big flashing sign that the dinner party went _great_.

Tetora felt conflicted, because he was already involved and wanted to know how it went, if it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, if his potential new dad was actually a nice guy, but his nerves caught fire at the thought of bringing it up when he’d already proved he didn’t have anything helpful to say. He still felt awkward. Guilty, even. He had put so much thought into what he could’ve done and came up with nothing.

Midori’s head came up, and stayed up, after roll call, and Tetora felt the weight on his head get a little less heavy. He decided he should talk to him after all. Just as soon as their lunch break began, Tetora grabbed his food and made his way over to Midori’s desk before he managed to slump back down on it.

“Midori-kun,” Tetora said just to get his attention.

Midori turned and Tetora could feel his eyes boring into him. “Yeah?” His voice was firmer than usual.

Sweat found itself on Tetora’s forehead in an instant. “I was just wonderin’, if, like,” he stammered, confidence wavering, because sometimes Midori could scare him more than he’d be able to admit without feeling emasculated, "Do ya... want some of my lunch?”

Midori looked away. “No, I don’t need any food. Probably never again, really,” he said.

“Uh... did you get superpowers overnight or are you on some sorta hunger strike?”

“Hunger strike.”

“No way! Is it because of your dinner last night? Was it really so bad you’re never gonna eat again?”

“Mm, yeah, I was so uncomfortable I just kinda wanted God to smite me? So I didn’t eat anything. I’m keeping it going, so I’m gonna die pretty soon, ‘cos that’s the best solution I can think of for this,” Midori said in a voice so calm it sent chills down Tetora’s spine. He was putting in a lot of effort to avoid eye contact.

“You know I’m not gonna let you do that, right? Dyin’ ‘cuz you didn’t eat... that’s just stupid. You _have_ to eat something.”

“You’re gonna try and make me eat? Don’t you think it’s cruel to get in the way of someone’s dream...?”

“No, it’s not, ‘cuz your dream is seriously horrible!”

Midori turned away and settled his head on one hand. “...I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. I knew I shouldn't have even told you.”

As Midori dismissed his help before he could even offer it, Tetora was reminded of how Midori usually made him feel.

Helpless. Angry.

“Fine, be that way, then,” he barked out. 

He stomped out of the classroom to the outdoors and settled around the tree he ate at yesterday. It proved difficult for him to eat while his head was heated up. His jokes already got uncomfortable at times, but how could Midori take them that far? He couldn’t wrap his head around how someone could be so selfish and cowardly no matter how hard he tried to understand it. All it did was worsen his mood, his eyebrows knitted while he chewed his food into a fine mush. When he was confused, confronted with that which didn’t make sense, rage pooled itself inside him like a waterfall feeding a lake. Was he over-reacting? Maybe. It didn’t matter. He wanted to cry.

“Tetsu-kun,” Hinata said, suddenly standing right beside him. “You look soo tense. Can I eat with you?”

“Sorry, but I don’t feel like talking.”

“You’re silly. Why would we talk if we’re eating? I just wanna sit with you.”

Tetora pouted. “I ain’t gonna stop you from eating here.”

Hinata giggled. “Yay! I don’t know about you, but lunch with Tetsu-kun is gonna make me feel soo much better. Just listen to me, I’m already beaming!”

“That’s nice,” Tetora looked away and pushed down the smile bubbling up his conflicted face. Hinata comforting him in a subtle, indirect way was unusual but made him feel warm inside.

While he felt a little better, Tetora’s problem hadn’t been solved. More signs of his little issue started surfacing just shy of two weeks later. It was well into Friday evening where, after a light dinner, he sat in his room studying for a test. Studying had never been his forte, which ate at his nerves, which made him crave the comfort of after-dinner snacks, and he was already opening his door before he even had time to contemplate whether he was craving sweet or salty.

He got a few steps away from the door before he saw clearly into the kitchen; before he could see that his current biggest nightmare was sitting at the table across from his father.

“Ohh, Tetora!” His dad’s weird friend shouted in his direction, his grin completely out of place with how intense the rest of his face looked. “Hey! Hi! I’m so glad to see you, I’ve been dying to meet you,” his voice boomed as he got up from where he was seated.

Tetora was paralyzed with fear, but the guy was unphased in his approach. He was a deer in the headlights of a shiny red sports car.

“What’s with that look? You don’t have to be shy, come here,” he said as he outstretched his arms, which made it look like he was about to hug someone, which, with the fact that he was still walking towards Tetora, meant he intended to hug him, which couldn’t possibly happen without Tetora falling in the hall and dying on impact. He could already see his own body ragdolling onto the floor like a third-person death cam from a video game.

“Morisawa,” Kuro interjected.

His friend whipped his head around. “What?”

“Don’t think he wants a hug. You aren’t allowed to hug my son unless he says you can.”

“No hug?” He straightened out as he turned himself back towards Kuro. “Why not? I don’t get it.”

The last thing Tetora saw was Kuro shaking his head on his hand before he was safe in his room. He flipped the lock on his door.

He didn’t know why they would have a guest so late, and really, the only reason he cared was because it meant he could have neither snacks or a bathroom break. He couldn’t even have any time with his dad. It was irritating. Irritated didn’t accurately describe how he felt about it, but it had to work for the moment. He went to sleep as soon as he realized he couldn't stay focused anymore.

In the morning he tried to get his extra Saturday sleep in, but with how early he slept the night before he couldn’t keep his eyes closed past his normal alarm time. He laid awake until his stomach started to growl, and after a brief trip to the bathroom he was in front of the fridge. He poured himself his current favorite cereal and started eating.

The weekend was nice, with the time away from school and responsibility, but he couldn’t help but look down into his bowl with disappointment. It felt as if enough disappointment was flowing out with his breath through his nostrils that, if it took physical, liquid form, it could replace the need for milk in his cereal entirely. Usually he got to stay up with his dad and watch the shows Kuro likes that Tetora never gets to see, the cool ones that air late at night so only adults get to watch them. He always sticks by so stubbornly that he drifts off to sleep and Kuro has to carry him to bed. He couldn't do any of that last night, though; he missed out on it because of his stupid friend. If it was some reason other than _him_ he would’ve been fine with it, but it wasn’t. It was completely _his_ fault.

Tetora took an angry sip from his bowl even though he wasn’t done with the cereal swimming in it yet, and before his bowl made it back to the table he heard the door to Kuro's room open from behind him with the bathroom door shutting right after. Tetora could wait to eat the rest until Kuro came out. He got lost on his phone, giving him a late reaction to the sound of the bathroom door opening back up.

He turned around and his eyes shot wide open.

“Oh, Tetora! I didn’t expect you to be awake this early. Good morning!”

Why wasn’t it his father, but his father's friend who came out? What the hell was he still doing here?

“You’re eating cereal, huh? I love cereal! Can I have some?”

Tetora held his mouth agape and couldn’t stop blinking. This couldn’t be happening to him.

“Oh! I forgot to introduce myself, right? I’m Morisawa Chiaki. May I please have a bowl of cereal?”

“Uhh,” Tetora started just because he was a big boy and couldn’t sit there ignoring him forever. “Yes?”

“Awesome! Thank you,” Chiaki said before he started opening random cabinets in their kitchen. “Where do you keep your bowls?”

“...One more to the right. They’re in there.”

Chiaki opened the cabinet, gasped in amazement, for some reason, and grabbed a bowl. He looked back towards Tetora. “Bowl acquired! Where’s the spoons?”

“The drawer directly under it.”

He found the drawer on his first try. He grabbed a spoon, raided the fridge for milk, and sat at the table with Tetora who had brought the box with him in case he wanted seconds.

Chiaki was really close to him. 

Tetora was not comfortable in the slightest. 

“Uhh, this is gonna sound rude, but,” Tetora started, but stopped to bite his lower lip.

Chiaki poured his cereal. “Hmm? You can tell me, I don’t mind.”

Tetora looked across the room and then brought his eyes back to Chiaki. “Why are you here?”

Chiaki had started chewing before Tetora finished his question and waited until he swallowed to respond. “Well, it’s simple, really. Iー”

“Morisawa?” Kuro peeked out from his bedroom door. He looked like he just woke up, and he sounded like it too.

“Kiryu! Good morning. Do you want some cereal?"

"No… Can you come back here? I need your… help. With something," Kuro said with an odd cadence.

"Of course," Chiaki said, picking up his cereal and looking back to Tetora. "Can I take this with me?"

"Whー I don't want it!" Tetora exclaimed.

Chiaki laughed a laugh so obnoxious that it was absurd. "Ok, see you later!"

He disappeared into the bedroom with Kuro. Tetora didn't waste a second packing up camp and running back to his own bedroom. By the time he finished his cereal, he wasn't in the mood for seconds anymore.

After spending a little more time on his phone, he started back on the work he was trying to do last night. Even though he had all weekend to cram he was bored enough of everything to start early for once. Before long his attention was caught by a knock on his door, and dread coursed through his body. He didn't want to talk to Chiaki, especially if he was _this_ desperate.

"Tetsu," Kuro said from the other side of the door. "You can come out if you want. Morisawa's gone."

"I'm kinda busy," Tetora replied as if he didn't feel relieved to hear he was gone.

"Okay, then, but if you get a minute I'm gonna be out here watchin' TV. I'd love for you to join me."

Kuro walked away from the door, but Tetora put down his pencil in a hurry to burst out of his room. “It’s ok, I can do it later!”

Kuro smiled. “If you’re sure.”

They watched television on the couch in silence for a short while, before the question that was eating away at Tetora’s brain managed to make its way out of his mouth.

“Did… uhh, “Morisawa” spend the night here, or somethin’?” Tetora asked with ample hesitation, somewhat afraid of what answer he might receive.

“Yeah. Sorry I didn’t get to tell you he was here. Seemed like he scared the crap out of you,” Kuro said.

“I wouldn’t put it like that! He just…” Tetora scratched the back of his neck. “I was confused… Why didn’t he go home last night?”

Kuro took time to think over his answer. “Well, we just ended up hanging out for so long that it got real late, ‘nd I didn’t want him going home. ‘Cuz it’s dangerous. Y’know.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

Kuro nodded. “It does, right? So, since I answered your question, will you answer mine?”

Tetora looked over at his dad. “Uh, okay?”

“There a reason why you’ve been quiet lately?”

The show they were watching was suddenly very interesting, which was definitely the reason why Tetora stopped looking at Kuro. “I dunno what you’re talking about. I’ve been fine.”

Kuro settled back. “Mm, if you say so.”

Tetora didn’t respond. He probably couldn't even if he wanted to.

Between his petty squabbles at school and the jealousy he felt towards Chiaki, not even he could tell what was really going on in his head. The fact that he was frustrated over something he couldn’t pinpoint made him feel worse.

Kuro had tried to breach for more casual conversation several times, but Tetora nipped every discussion in the bud. He wasn’t in any sort of mood to talk. He wanted to sit in front of the TV, seethe, and solve nothing.

Kuro wasn't having any of it. “You’re sure nothing’s on your mind, bud?”

Tetora shrugged in response, careful to keep his eyes affixed in front of him.

“You get enough to eat? I can get started on lunch early if it’s gonna make you feel better.”

“Didn’t say anythin’ was wrong,” Tetora blurted out.

“You don’t have to,” Kuro said as he started to get up.

Tetora looked straight at Kuro. “Stop it, I’m not hungry!” He shouted.

Kuro froze for a moment, staring into Tetora’s eyes as he sat back down. He rested his head on the couch and closed his eyes, opening them right before he started to speak. “You gotta tell me what’s up if you want me to understand.”

Tetora looked away and squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t ready to calm down even if the guilt of raising his voice at his father left him wobbly.

“Tetsu.” Kuro’s voice was stern as he tried to goad an answer from him. The feeling of imminent tears was too much to bear.

“It’s just,” Tetora started his sentence slow and careful to ensure he wouldn’t work up any tears. “I dunno, guess ‘ve had some trouble at school.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

He didn’t want to talk about it. It wasn’t that big of a deal and he was tired of thinking about it.

He didn’t want to talk about it, yet all the words crashed against his mouth like cold blue waves against a hole-ridden dam.

“This guy in my class was bein’ rude to me, just ‘cuz I wanted to help him ‘nd he didn’t wanna be helped, I guess. It’s annoying. Just ‘cuz I thought we were friends. Why’s he gotta take it out on me all the time?”

“So that’s it?” Kuro leaned back and rested his head on his arms. “It’s understandable he’d be upset if he’s havin’ trouble at home or something, but there’s no reason to lash out at someone for tryna lend a hand.”

“Yeah, and, it’s dumb, too, I really don’t get what the big deal is. He’s upset ‘cuz his dad’s dating a guy, or something? And that he had to talk to him when he came over for dinner. He’s been so shaken over it. It’s annoying.”

Kuro was surprised, taking a few moments to respond. “He’s upset about it?”

“Uh huh, he’s taking it real bad. The day after it happened, he said he wanted to get smited, and that he wasn’t ever gonna eat again ‘cuz he wanted to die. I told him I wasn’t gonna let him starve to death and he pretty much told me to go away!”

Kuro went quiet, leaning forward as he covered his mouth with his hand.

Tetora felt unnerved by how long he stared at the floor. He couldn't think of a reason for him to be digging a hole to the apartment below them with his eyes.

“He’s taking it that bad,” Kuro finally said, his voice soft and low.

Tetora panicked. “Yeah, but, it’s ok, so don’t worry! I caught him eating the other day, so he’s not going through with his hunger strike thingy.”

Kuro avoided his eyes and gave a weird, uncomfortable smile. “That’s good, then.”

Their attention went back to the TV. Tetora was left with a pit in his stomach.

They met for a late breakfast the next morning. Though Kuro cooked them a full course meal, he didn’t have anything to say while they ate it. He didn’t seem to be doing terribly, but Tetora knew his father well enough to know he wasn’t happy.

Tetora filled his mouth. “So, uhh,” he started.

He took Kuro’s attention away from poking at his food. “Mm?” 

“Do you wanna do something together today?”

“Sure. I ain’t got any plans.”

Tetora swallowed, but replaced the food in his mouth right away. “Cool, ‘cuz, I was just thinkin’ it’s been awhile since we got to practice any karate together. Can we do that?”

Kuro smiled at his food. “Now that sounds like fun.”

After breakfast was done and eaten, they changed and met back in the living room. Tetora used to think it was dumb how Kuro refused to spar with him unless they put on the appropriate get-up, but he didn’t give it a second thought anymore. No matter what he thought of them, Dad’s rules were Dad’s rules and he had no choice but to follow them. Not only the clothes, but the rule that they have to move the furniture beforehand to get adequate space in their dinky living space. After he had done all the prep work enough times, it seemed like less of a hassle that ate up precious time and more like a warm-up that made him all the more excited to get hurled onto the floor.

“Alright, here I come!” Tetora shouted as he ran forward to grapple Kuro.

With one hand outstretched to Tetora’s chest, Kuro stopped his assault. “How many times’ve I told you if you announce your moves they’re gonna get blocked?”

Tetora grabbed Kuro’s arm with both hands and attempted to pull him down to the floor. “I knew you’d say that, which means I expected that to happen, which means you’ve fallen for my trap!” He put all his strength into his maneuver, but Kuro didn’t budge.

“C’mon, try a lil’ harder, I wanna see the trap.”

Tetora whined. “It’s not fair, why won’t you topple over like a tree? It went so smooth in my head. I’ve been waiting weeks to try it out!”

“You been working on your muscles, right? Strength makes technique easier to follow through on.”

“Uhh,” Tetora let go of Kuro’s arm and Kuro retracted it in turn. “I kinda forgot about working on it.”

“That’s alright. I’m not bein’ hard on you, so don’t go ‘nd be hard on yourself. I know you haven’t been havin’ the easiest time. Always gotta work for progress, though.”

Kuro ruffled Tetora’s hair and Tetora swatted his hand away. They went on with their practice in a more practical manner, blocking each other’s strikes and trying to make their way around the other’s defense. After maybe a hundred strikes fell to Kuro's guard, Tetora finally managed to get a clean hit on him.

“Ohh, did you see that?!” Tetora exclaimed, his mouth wide open and his eyes glimmering.

Kuro brushed his shoulder. “I saw it. Felt it, too. Good one.”

“I got you, I got you! I’m a karate master!” Tetora, unable to contain his excitement, jumped up and down before prancing around the playing field. “I’m so good at this now, I should get a better belt for that one!”

“Hmm,” Kuro brought his hand to his mouth in an exaggerated manner of thought. “Well, I have been thinking about something. If you can agree to my wager, I’ll give you the opportunity to move up in rank.”

Tetora balled his fists under his chin. “Anything! Tell me what it is!”

“If you can get me on the floor first, I’ll getcha a new belt.”

“Easy! I agree.”

Kuro shook his head. “Let me finish before you accept.”

“What else is there to say?”

“There’s another side to it.” Kuro straightened his posture and closed the gap between them. “If I knock you on the floor first, you’ve gotta make-up with that kid you’re quarreling with.”

“What? What does that have to do with anything?!”

“I told you, I was thinking about something. I don’t think you should be giving him a hard time. You two should make nice.”

Tetora huffed. “But, he’s a jerk! I don’t wanna apologize to him or nothin’.”

Kuro crossed his arms. “Guess our wager’s off, then.”

“But, but,” Tetora hastily got down on his knees and put his hands together. “Can you change it to something else, pleaase?”

“Out of the question. Get off the floor.”

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” Tetora got up from the floor and settled into his stance. “I’m gonna win. I know I am.”

Kuro readied himself as well. “That’s the spirit. Bring it on, champ.”

They stood steady for a minute, both bracing for the other to make the first move. Tetora didn’t trust himself to make it since he fried his nerves trash talking his own dad. The moment Kuro moved for him, Tetora blocked his strike and their spar was officially underway. For a few minutes, it seemed as if they were on equal footing with the flurry of chops, jabs, and blocks. Tetora stood his ground, but when he tried to proceed past enemy territory he got sent back where he came with little effort. As soon as he considered the possibility of their battle ending in stalemate he left himself with a critical opening, and before he could cover himself back up Kuro’s leg was already in motion to sweep Tetora off of his feet.

“Woah,” Tetora blurted out. His sudden loss of balance left him wobbling, before he finally fell backwards onto his ass. Kuro got over him in a second, pushing him over to lay flat on the ground.

“Sorry, bud. Put up a great fight, but you lose,” Kuro said as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

Tetora closed his eyes. He put in so much effort, but he still lost. With the embarrassment of losing and his dad’s gaze beating down on him with the heat of the sun he could feel himself turning into pudding. Or maybe it was something more like a scoop of ice cream that fell off some poor kid’s cone and onto the sizzling surface of a hot summer sidewalk.

Sidewalk ice cream. That was how it felt.

“It’s not…” Tetora opened his eyes halfway. “I wanna say it’s not fair, but I can’t think of why.”

“Guess that means it’s fair, huh?”

Tetora grumbled.

“And you’re gonna tell Midori you’re sorry.”

“Yeah, I’m…” Tetora stopped, propping himself off the floor and opening his eyes all the way. “Wait, I didn’t tell you who it was, did I? How’d you...”

Kuro, caught off his guard, looked over into the kitchen. “How could I not know? Dads just know some things naturally.”

“That doesn’t make sense?”

“You wouldn’t understand it yet. I get it.”

Arguing with Kuro got nowhere fast. Tetora gave up as soon as Kuro claimed all fathers automatically know each other once their kids make contact.

The circumstances didn’t exactly matter. The only thing that really mattered was that he was going to have to man up and talk to Midori.

He was back to school on Monday, and after having been given a day to prepare to mend their friendship he felt like he was ready to put his plan into action. He didn’t want to strike conversation first thing in the morning, nor did he want to converse at lunch; but rather, he figured it would go smoothest after school was out. It had seemed like a great idea to wait for all the dust to settle until he was actually there, sitting in class watching the clock on the wall move slower than it would if he ripped out its batteries. Despite the excruciating wait and the thousand quick glances he made over at Midori’s desk, he managed to remain somewhat calm. It actually helped that he didn’t have a choice but to suck it up and follow through. Class seemed to go by faster after lunch, and it was let out entirely before he knew it.

Tetora got up from his chair and picked up his bag. He gripped the strap hard. Midori was already up and preparing to leave himself when Tetora wandered over to his desk.

“Oh, hi, Tetora-kun,” Midori said, surprised.

“Hey,” Tetora replied. “Uhh, are you in a hurry? I wanted to talk to you about somethin’.”

“No, I was just about to come to you, so… this actually saves me some time.”

Tetora pointed to himself. “What, you wanted to talk to me, too?”

“Yeah, I was gonna. I wanted to…” Midori broke eye contact. “I guess I wanted to say sorry for being rude?”

“No way, I was about to do that! I shouldn’ta snapped at you when I knew you were havin’ trouble at home. Even if you were kinda bein’ a jerk, I should be the bigger man.” Tetora couldn’t keep himself from puffing his cheeks.

Midori had his eyes focused on his desk. “Thanks, but… did your dad make you say all that…?”

“Uhh, he kind of did, but after I thought about it I knew he was right. I…” Tetora scratched the back of his head. “I appreciate gettin’ an apology back. Thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Midori looked to Tetora, a small awkward smile plastered on his face. It looked strange, but Tetora appreciated the effort.

He went home after his extracurricular activities and rested easy knowing his interpersonal issues were wrapped up nicely. His dad was relieved, too, though Tetora still couldn’t understand why it was so important to him, or why Midori would question his input after he apologized. Kuro even went as far as to take him out for ice cream after they finished dinner.

Tetora and his dad enjoyed their cones at the park that was nearby, gently swinging on the swing sets. They stayed for a while even after the sun had gone down and the autumn wind pierced through their clothes and left them shivering.

“I’m real proud of you. You know that, right?” Kuro asked with his eyes fixated on the dim sky.

Tetora smiled. “I know. I work hard every day making sure I do everything I can to keep it that way.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> relatively short self indulgent chapter. conflict ahoy! (:

It felt for a moment like everything went back to normal.

Tetora and his father had another good week or two, but as fall transitioned into winter, Kuro started to come home late more than ever before. Some days he didn’t come home at all.

His father always communicated when he would be late, but he didn’t quite delve into specifics, so Tetora found himself waiting for him on the couch what seemed like every other day. Within the span of a few months Tetora watched helplessly as Kuro’s overbearing parenting poured out from the cracks of his fingers like loose sand. With how often he started to tell Tetora he couldn’t spend time with him and that he already had his own plans, it started to seem like a catchphrase. Tetora’s will to ask him at all started to fade away. Their quality time together shrunk with every evening he spent waiting around just to say good night.

Tetora seethed quietly all to himself. If not his father, who could he talk to about it? Nobody. So he kept all his feelings buried deep inside. His classmates expressed concern about his change in demeanor, but they wouldn’t understand. He couldn’t possibly convey his thoughts coherently enough to make them understand.

On one night, about halfway through February, he was bundled up on the couch by himself again. He was conscious, somehow, even though he could’ve sworn he had already fallen asleep.

He rolled over and felt around in the dark for his phone. It claimed it was two in the morning. He was still on the couch, which must’ve meant his father hadn’t gotten home yet. He couldn't have, as there’d only been a few times where Tetora had even woken up while Kuro carried him back to bed. Even so, he felt unsettled. He didn’t want to go back to his room by himself, so he closed his eyes to try and go back to sleep instead.

A sniffle rang out from the doorway. His eyes shot open. He couldn’t find a way to move his limbs anymore. Someone was definitely, one-hundred percent crying by the front door.

The sound stayed at the door for a few minutes before moving over to the kitchen table. Whoever was crying pulled out a chair and sat down, which was weird behavior for a robber.

Slowly, Tetora started to sit up, careful not to make any sounds that would alert them to the fact that he was there. He peeked over the top of the couch, and he saw…

“Dad?” Tetora asked, his voice no higher than a whisper.

Kuro looked back at him, his mouth mostly covered and his face stained with tears. “Sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“No, that’s ok, are you ok?”

“I’m,” Kuro sniffled, “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry.”

Tetora blinked. He couldn’t believe he was watching his dad cry. His dad, who would always be the strongest living man on the entire earth to him. He was watching him cry. “I’m gonna be worried no matter what you say. What happened?”

Kuro took a deep, shaky breath as he wiped his cheeks. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He rubbed his eyes before he tried to speak again. “I’m getting married,” he finally said.

Tetora creased his brows. “What? Why? To who?!”

“...This is gonna be tough to explain."

ー

Like most of their recent nights, Kuro and his partner met after work. They had plans; plans to meet for dinner, and their date that night involved a much more upscale restaurant than either of them were used to. It left Kuro's nerves spiking through the roof when his work leaked out into overtime. When he finally got home he practically tore his closet out of the wall trying to get dressed appropriately on time.

Kuro made it to the restaurant and burst through the doors as politely as he could manage to burst through doors. With a quick glance around the waiting area, he couldn't find his date. He checked his watch next to find he was twenty minutes late.

He threw his head back. His date probably gave up and bailed.

Behind him, someone narrowly avoided hitting him with the door as they burst through the doorway themselves.

Chiaki, who just bum-rushed the entrance, looked up at Kuro. "Kiryu!" He jumped upright in a moment. "Are you okay? Did I hit you??"

"...No. I got out unscathed."

"Oh, thank God… I'm SO sorry I'm late. You were probably about to give up and leave, huh?"

"No, uh, I just got here a few seconds ago."

"Really!?" Chiaki sighed with relief and a smile. "I'm so so so so glad! I don't know what I would do if I missed you tonight of all nights."

Kuro couldn't wipe the dumb grin he started making off his face even when he tried. "Wha'd'ya mean tonight of all nights?"

"Nothing! I just said that because this place is so nice, and… you know, we should stop yelling in the lobby."

"Since when was _I_ yelling?"

Chiaki laughed and smiled wide. "Let's get our table now, okay?"

Seeing his smile, Kuro forgot he was even worried.

Their dinner started and ended with no further issues. Kuro thought it was lovely. It was so, so lovely. Neither wanted to part with the other just yet, which led them to dress down a tad and duck into Kuro’s favorite bar. He hadn't been there for a long time.

They laughed, they drank, but mostly, they laughed. There wasn’t even a chance Kuro was going to have enough to drink where he couldn’t pay complete attention to every last “ha” that came out of Chiaki’s mouth. He didn't need the alcohol when he had something much more intoxicating sitting across from him at the table. They left after they’d had enough; tipsy but not quite drunk.

The outside world was pitch black. It was cold, too. Kuro decided to lead his boyfriend over to the same park he always took his son to. The path was illuminated by streetlights up until Chiaki dragged Kuro off of the path. He forced Kuro to run with him to a remote patch of grass too far away to be lit. Chiaki sat himself on the grass and pulled Kuro down with him.

“What’re you plannin’ on us doing down here?” Kuro asked.

“I don’t know, I just thought, "ohh, being alone with each other here would be so fun". How often do you get to roll around in grass these days?" Chiaki replied.

“Like a couple’a teenagers.” Kuro plopped down flat on his back. The sky didn’t have but a few dim stars, but he stared up at it anyway.

Chiaki followed suit, settling down next to Kuro. He leaned over, grabbed Kuro’s face, and kissed him gently. Chiaki giggled as their lips parted and their subsequent breaths filled the cold air between them.

Kuro smiled and grabbed the wrist that was brushing against his face. “You didn’t have too much to drink, did you?”

“No, I promise! I just love you, the same way I do every other second of the day.”

“Mm, I see.” Kuro closed his eyes. “I love you.” His eyes stayed closed as Chiaki ran his fingers across his face and through his hair.

“Ohh, you look deep in thought already. I wonder what's going on in that head of yours."

"I better not think any harder, 'else you're gonna see smoke come out my ears." Kuro smiled. “Just wonderin' if anybody clocked us tonight. I dunno, though. We could pass for co-workers or some shit, right?”

Another giggle escaped from Chiaki’s mouth. “It's fine. You worry about that stuff too much.”

“Can’t help it. Being in the dark makes me wanna kiss you again, though.”

And so they passed the time shivering on the grass and talking about nothing. Every time Kuro made Chiaki laugh, he noticed his face warming up. It was hard to see it in the dark, and he almost wrote it off entirely since it was so unusual to see any sort of blush on Chiaki’s face, but he could swear he was blushing. No, Kuro was certain his face was going red. He ruled the possibility of the weather causing it out entirely due to Chiaki’s established position as a walking heater.

When he put some thought into it, Chiaki had been acting a little sheepish all night. He had this gut feeling he was trying to hide something.

Kuro checked his phone for the first time in hours to see that it was well past midnight. “Shit. It’s real late,” he remarked.

“What does that matter? I want you to answer my question.”

Kuro covered his face and laughed. “I already gave you my answer, but for the last time, I’ve got no idea what kind of car I’d be if I was a transformer.”

“How could it be so hard to think about yourself in vehicular terms? I thought up mine really fast!”

“Sorry, but I’ve never been able to relate to cars like that. I’m sure you prepared your answer beforehand anyways.”

Chiaki lightly, but not too lightly, smacked Kuro’s stomach several times. “You have to think of _something_! I won’t accept anything but the truth!”

Kuro propped himself off the ground to start getting up. “No, what I gotta do is go home. It’s cold as balls and my son’s probably still up waiting for me.”

“No, no, wait, I’m serious,” Chiaki grabbed Kuro’s arm and squeezed it tight. “You can’t leave, it’s _so_ important!”

“That question is _not_ important.”

“I’m not talking about that! I…” Kuro looked back at Chiaki. He looked like he was scared shitless. The grimace on his face was completely uncharacteristic. He was looking him straight in the eyes, too, and the combination sent chills racing down Kuro’s spine. “I need to ask you something else. I’m sorry I messed up the mood so bad, this is gonna suck, but it’s really, _really_ important.”

Kuro sat back down. He had a lump in his throat. “You can tell me anything.”

"Okay, here we go…" Chiaki took a breath so deep that Kuro could hear him shaking through it. “It’s… I just want to tell you that the time we’ve spent together since we started going out has been the best time of my life." Chiaki stopped to play with his hands. "I'm so happy now, happy like I've probably never even felt before. I think we were _always_ meant to be together. I feel like an idiot for letting you slip out of my life the way I did, but… I can't regret anything, I can't regret one bit of it since everything that's happened culminated with _us_. The universe was kind enough to let us fall for each other. I wouldn't change any of it for the world."

Chiaki took a long pause. Kuro’s heart started to race even before Chiaki gripped his hand tightly within his own.

“I love you, more than anything else I love you. I know it's too soon to say this, but I feel it with all my heart; I can't live without you anymore. I need you here, I need you to be with me. I can't… I can't bear the thought of us being apart ever again, so,” Chiaki breathed out another shaky breath. He stumbled over himself as he adjusted his position to kneel on one knee. “Could you find it in your heart to promise me you'll stay by my side forever?”

Kuro’s entire body shook and he couldn't close his mouth. His heart beat as if it would burst out of his skin and never beat again.

“Will you marry me?”

Kuro didn’t know how he was supposed to respond. He felt completely and utterly speechless. “Are you drunk?”

“I had _one_ drink, hours ago."

“...Does hypothermia really infect people that fast?"

"No! You have to accept that I'm doing this in good conscience. I'm proposing to you. I planned this nice night with you just so I could pop the question… and I went through with it. Isn't that enough for you?" Chiaki pulled a little black box out of his pocket. It was obvious what it contained even before he opened it. "There's nothing that can change my mind now. I wanna get married, but it has to be you."

Kuro's eyes went wide. "Morisawa. That's a fucking ring."

"I know. It's yours."

Kuro isn't ready for this. At all. “How are we supposed to get _married_?”

“I don't care.” Tears formed in Chiaki’s eyes and quickly escaped down onto his cheeks. “We can get married however we want, and I don’t care how anyone on earth feels about it except for you. So, please, don't ask any more questions. Will you marry me? Yes or no?”

Kuro was fighting back his own tears. He pulled Chiaki into a tight hug and nuzzled his face on his neck. “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you,” he whispered into Chiaki’s ear.

Chiaki dropped the ring to the ground to wrap himself around Kuro. He cried into his shoulder for a while, their bodies only separating just enough to share a tender kiss.

ー

Within a few minutes Kuro and Chiaki went from dating to being engaged.

When Kuro finished telling Tetora everything he needed to know about his night, he was choked up again.

Tetora, on the other hand, could believe almost none of the words he just heard. Specifically, not put together like that. “You’re… getting married. To that Morisawa guy?”

“Yes.”

“You two were dating?”

Kuro nodded. "For the past six months."

What?

Tetora couldn't understand, but he _really_ didn’t want to delve further into the topic. They both left to their own rooms.

Tetora laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling as his brain played the same new facts on repeat. He just heard, for the first time, that not only is his dad gay, but he’s been dating the man Tetora learned to hate for taking Kuro away from him the entire time he’s known of his existence.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to think about any of it. He prayed for sleep to take him away from his consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

Tetora woke up early the next day on little sleep. He could’ve went back to sleep and gotten another hour or so before leaving for school, but his sleep-deprived brain convinced him to get up and get ready in hope that he could slip out of the house before he had to face his father.

He got into his uniform, shoved some toast down his throat and brushed his teeth before slipping out the front door. He was so groggy on his way to school he hardly thought of anything, and the first thing he did when he finally got to class was dunk his face flat onto his desk. His phone buzzed. He picked it up and put it on silent after the third time he heard the custom text ringtone he picked out for Kuro. While he didn’t want to talk to his father, he’d also get in an insane amount of trouble if his phone went off during class. So he had to ignore him. Even though class wouldn’t start for over an hour.

He was lucky he could even get into school this early.

After a bit of waiting in the class alone, Tetora felt himself getting shaken. “Tetsu-kuuun,” Hinata’s voice rang out. “Wake up! Are you seriously asleep?”

“Stop shaking me,” Tetora replied as he swatted away Hinata’s hands. “I wasn’ sleepin’.”

“Well, it sure looked like you were to everybody in the room that had eyes,” Hinata said.

Tetora lifted his head up and saw that most of the class was in their seats now.

A glance at the clock on the wall confirmed Hinata’s theory to be fact.

“Okay, I think I fell asleep,” Tetora admitted.

“I told you! Now give me thanks instead of a scolding, please.”

Tetora groaned and sat up in his chair. “Thank you, Hinata-kun.”

Hinata smiled, but didn’t linger. The fact that he wasn't hassling him further made Tetora feel relieved, if not a bit confused.

It was lunchtime before he knew it, and when Tetora realized he forgot his wallet and couldn’t get anything to eat he finally regretted leaving the house the way he did. He was hungry, but he wasn’t in any kind of mood to be getting sympathy from anybody, so he wandered over to the tree he ate at with Midori that one time. He thought it was more of a habit for him to hang out there than Midori, after all.

“Oh, Tetora-kun,” Midori’s voice called out, because if you speak of the devil he shall appear. “You don’t mind if I eat here too, do you?”

Tetora pulled a face. “Umm… Go ahead.”

Midori carefully set himself down on the ground. He looked Tetora up and down. “You didn’t already eat your food, did you…? Do you need some? I can share, if you want…”

“No, it’s ok. I’m… on a diet?”

“A diet? Why would you need to do that…?”

“Uhh, ‘cuz…” Tetora blinked. “...’Cuz I forgot my wallet at home.”

“If you wanna tell a convincing lie you’ll need to practice at it some more, ‘cos you’re no good at it. You should have some of my food.”

“You shouldn’t lie in the first place, let alone turn it into some sorta skill. I don’t needa be good at it, ‘nd I don’t need any of your lunch.”

Midori looked down at his lunchbox. “Um, is something wrong? You seem all weird…”

“It’s whatever.”

“Okay, but, if you keep something from me even though you always make me spill my secrets, I might just get mad.”

Tetora grumbled and flopped flat onto his back. “Do you actually wanna know? I’d feel terrible if you were just giving me some sort of obligated pity.”

Midori chewed some of his food while he thought it over. “Yeah, I think so.”

Tetora closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “Well, to wrap it up all nice and short, I just found out my dad only adopted me ‘cuz he’s gay.”

“Oh, sorry. It’s tough to find out you got adopted so late in life, huh…”

“What? That’s not the problem. I was adopted late enough that I remember it all.”

Midori made an unpleasant face while he chewed more of his lunch. “You mean he never told you he was gay? You never, like, realized that…?”

“Was I supposed to know? You make it sound like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.”

“Sorry, it’s just really hard to believe I knew before you did.”

Tetora, flabbergasted, bolted to sit up straight. “How could you possibly have known my dad likes guys?!”

Midori looked uncomfortable, confused, even, as he swallowed more food. “That’s ‘cos he’s dating my dad.”

“That’s not funny… You shouldn’t make jokes like that. I’m seriously stressed out right now.”

Midori rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t a joke… He didn’t tell you that, either? Even though my dad told me he's met you and everything, you didn’t know… Did he even tell you they just got engaged? It was the only thing that could come out of my dad’s big dumb mouth this morning. That they were getting married, and you were officially gonna be my step-brother…”

Tetora stared blankly at Midori. He heard a vase fall to the floor in the distance. The first one knocked over a second one, the entire shelf was tilted, and vase after vase toppled onto the floor right after the first. The sound of shattering glass reverberated in his brain like a song he couldn’t get out of his head.

There were two things Tetora now knew as absolute fact; Kuro, his dad, is gay, and not only has he been dating his classmate's dad, but he just got _engaged_ to him. _Yesterday_. Midori was on the fast track to literally becoming Tetora’s brother, and Midori seems to have known that for (almost) the entire time.

A thousand loose puzzle pieces slammed together in his head. It was impossible for Tetora to tell if the nausea was just from a lack of food or if the sudden intake of information was crushing his brain.

He spent the rest of class trying desperately to shift his focus on the lesson to try and forget that his entire life is suddenly changing right before his eyes and he’s powerless to stop it. He dug his phone out of his pocket on the way home to reply to Kuro for the first time that day that he was almost home.

He couldn’t even close their front door behind him before he was wrapped in Kuro’s arms.

“Thank God you’re safe,” Kuro said. “You had me so worried.”

Tetora didn’t respond. He really didn’t feel like getting hugged right now.

“You’re lucky I thought to ask Midori to check if you were in class before I marched over there and embarrassed you in front of everybody. Hell, with how long I had to wait I was this close to doing it anyway.”

Takamine Midori. His new step-son who he's so well acquainted with. Who he's gotten to know so well during all the time he was living a secret life with his new family.

“Why’d you even leave like that?”

Tetora clenched his fists. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kuro released Tetora and backed away far enough to look at his face. “Tell you what?”

“Anything! You didn’t tell me anything,” Tetora said through gritted teeth. “Everything was happening right in front of me, but I didn’t even know.”

Kuro blinked. “Tetsuー”

“Midori-kun told me everything,” Tetora interrupted. “He couldn’t believe I was hearing it all for the first time, and, you know what, I couldn’t either. I feel like such an idiot! How was I supposed to know any of that when you decided to just keep it to yourself?” Tetora stared Kuro down in wait of the perfect excuse.

“You wanna hear the truth?”

“That’s all I’m asking for!”

Kuro rested a hand on the back of his own neck and took a deep breath. “Honestly… I was scared. Didn’t know how you were gonna take it. I was waiting for the right time, but even then… I let it go right by me.”

“And when was that supposed to be? What was gonna be the right time?”

“My best opportunity… It had to be when Morisawa stayed the night. I ended up tellin’ you some vague lie to cover up why he stayed with me. I knew I had to go back and explain it proper, but, after you told me about the way Midori felt about us being together, ‘nd I thought about the look you had on your face every time you’d seen Morisawa…” Kuro shut his eyes. “I backed down. Couldn’t bear to do it.”

“So you just weren’t gonna say anything. It suddenly wasn’t any of my business ‘cuz I wouldn’t like it.”

“Promise I intended to say something after that, but…” Kuro smiled awkwardly. “It was real sudden. Never thought he was gonna get on one knee for someone like me. I never even thought to dream that someone would ever want me like that.”

Tetora shut his mouth. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t know how he was supposed to keep lashing out after hearing his side.

Kuro kneeled down and gently held Tetora’s arms. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’ta ever let it happen like this. We can talk it out over a meal if you want. You must be starving.”

Tetora nodded weakly. He stared at the floor and pretended he wasn’t holding off tears when Kuro got up and walked him to the kitchen. He ate their lunch-dinner hybrid and Kuro gave him an answer to every question he could think of.

Their wedding would take place in April. Though they wouldn’t be bound in the most legal terms, it would be the official date they’d all come together as a family. The adults had already decided him and his dad would move into the Morisawa-Takamine roof, because it was bigger, apparently, though he was told it still only had two bedrooms. Tetora didn’t wholly approve of moving out, but the four of them living in the same house didn’t seem to be negotiable and their apartment wasn’t capable of housing _one_ more person, let alone two. 

Even if he wasn’t satisfied with some of them, getting a straight answer to every little question that popped in his head made him feel calmer.

Tetora asked himself, briefly, if his father's decision making was as trustworthy as he always thought it to be. He threw that thought in the garbage quick. He never wanted to doubt him. He was trying to be quiet and accept what was happening despite how he felt about it for his father’s sake, swallowing the little objections he had in the hopes he would never have to see him cry again.

And because of it, Tetora felt like a ticking bomb for the next two weeks.

At school, he was back to avoiding Midori. Though, “avoiding” wasn’t quite polite enough a word to be what he would want to use to describe it. He was trying to _avoid_ being rude while keeping as much distance as he could. Midori never seemed the type to mind being left alone, anyway, but he still came to Tetora’s desk every day to bother him. He claimed he was being put up to it by his own father. Apparently he had been told, repeatedly, non-stop, that they had to learn to get along if they were ever going to survive sharing not only a house, but a bedroom.

Tetora understood the sentiment but felt the fire fray on his fuse nonetheless. He wouldn’t mind bonding with him so much if it had been Midori’s idea, but hearing “my dad” come out of his mouth every day drove him up the wall. He was sick and tired of hearing about his dad. His relationship with Midori had been more or less fixed, but he couldn’t even force himself to like Chiaki.

To make matters worse, Chiaki had been putting in an insane amount of effort to win him over. Kuro probably mentioned Tetora’s disapproval to him, because Chiaki was bothering him constantly. Chiaki was always showing up at their apartment, asking Tetora questions and trying to get him to come out and hang with him at a pace that had practically turned into every single day. Tetora was sick and tired of him. He couldn’t think of even a little piece of him he found likeable.

Tetora sat and repeatedly tapped his pencil on his desk. He had been convinced the day before to give Chiaki his phone number and the amount of unread texts he already had from him this early in the day left him seconds away from exploding on someone. _Anybody_.

Lunch started, and he attempted to get up from his desk and out of the room before anybody had a chance to talk to him. He didn’t trust himself to avoid taking his frustrations out on an innocent bystander. It was the last thing he wanted to do today.

“Tetora-kun, wait,” Midori said as he planted his feet in front of his desk. “Do you want to eat lunch together again…?”

Tetora stared off at the chalkboard. “No. Thanks,” he said.

Midori sighed and looked at his phone. “Ok, then… Just let me tell you something first. I don’t have a choice.”

“Okay, what is it, then.”

“My dad… he wants me to ask you to answer him. I guess he’s texting you…?”

Tetora’s eye twitched. “I know. I know he is.”

Midori looked uncomfortable. “I know it’s a bother, but if you could just respond to him, thenー”

“No! I don’t want to talk to him, not now and not ever,” Tetora exploded. He cringed at himself.

“Don’t be stubborn and yell at me like that… It’s not like I wanna talk to him either.”

“What choice do I have but to be stubborn? I’m not goin' to talk to that weirdo! I’m so sick of hearing about him that I can’t take it anymore,” Tetora grabbed his head with his hands. “Both of you, just leave me alone already!”

Tetora ran out of the classroom. He instinctively ran underneath the same remote tree he’d had most of his meltdowns at in the past few months. He unceremoniously threw his bag on the ground and dug his lunch out of it. He tore into his food, chewing it aggressively as if it would calm him down. After just one gulp his phone played his call ringtone, and he didn’t even have to look to see who it was before he rejected the call and threw his phone in the grass. This sucked. He wanted to calm down. None of the deep breaths he tried to soothe himself with managed to fall into the same rhythm.

“Tetsu-kuun,” Hinata’s voice rang out from behind him.

Tetora looked towards him, saw Hinata coming, and shoved too much food in his mouth to chew. 

“Tetsu-kun, you accidentally ran out too fast to tell me where we’re eating lunch today. Luckily for us, I managed to find you,” Hinata said, looming over where Tetora sat on the ground.

“Mrmbhbhbhbhg,” Tetora mumbled through a mouthful of rice.

Hinata giggled and plopped down opposite to Tetora. “C’mon, chew your food. Even if it’s cute when you talk with your mouth full, I know it’s just a way to avoid talking to me. And it isn’t going to work! You know I’m more persistent than that.”

“Mrghrm.”

“What was that? You want me to chew it for you, you said?”

Tetora swallowed his rice so fast he choked on it.

Hinata laughed so hard he almost fell over backwards. “No, it was just a joke! You weren’t supposed to die.”

After three hard raps to his own chest, Tetora caught his breath. “That’s not funny!” He exclaimed.

Hinata sprang back up and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Sorry, but you were asking for it. It was kind of your fault. Every bit of it, actually.”

“You just come here to be mean to me? I’m not in the mood for it.”

“I came here to eat lunch with you! Obviously.”

Tetora knitted his brows and stared at Hinata.

Hinata tore into his own lunch box. “Mm, well, I also want you to tell me why you’re so grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy.”

“How come grumpy-pants stormed out of class, then? Why doesn’t he want to talk to me?”

Tetora groaned. “Don’t do this… Believe it or not, I don’t wanna lash out at anybody else. I hate being mean. I'm tired of it.”

“You won’t have to do that because I’m going to make you feel all better.”

Tetora poked at his food. Hinata cared about him, in his own weird way. Nothing he said was quite straight-forward enough to be in Tetora’s comfort zone, but Tetora knew deep down he could trust him. “I guess, if you want, you could try.”

They made idle chatter for a few minutes, completely divorced from even the problems Hinata had to have known about already. He was weird, as usual, but Tetora still found him charming. Comforting.

Without so much as another push, Tetora took hold of the subject. “I’ve been having a real hard time lately. Thanks for caring.” 

“Oh, do you want to talk about it now?” Hinata cocked his head to the side.

Tetora inhaled slowly. “It’s kinda dumb. I dunno.”

Hinata smiled softly. “It’s nooot. Promise.”

“The word's already come out about my dad bein’ with Midori-kun’s dad, right?”

Hinata nodded.

“I just… I still can’t believe it’s happening. I don’t want it to.”

“Really? It’s a surprise to me to hear you don’t approve of it. I thought you guys got along. What’s so bad about it?”

"I mean... It's not Midori-kun's fault... necessarily... I think." Tetora took a moment to think. “Like… My dad’s been real distant for awhile now. I’ve missed out on so much time I could've spent with him, the most important person in my whole life, and when I found out that was why…” Tetora shook his head. “I’m just gonna be seein’ even less of him now, ain’t I? How am I ‘sposed to act when I finally have something to point fingers at?”

“I see,” Hinata brought his hand to his mouth and looked at the sky. “You just don’t want to share your dad?”

“He’s all I have. I hate to think how easy it is for him to replace me.”

Hinata looked back down at Tetora. “So you’re mad at him?”

The thought made Tetora’s heart clench. “I dunno. I don’t wanna be.”

“It’s normal to get upset with your parents, isn’t it? It makes me think about how Yuta-kun isn’t talking to me right now.”

“He’s not talking to you because you stole his phone and pretended to be him to his friends for a whole day.”

“I just wanted to make sure everybody was being nice to him! It was such a considerate gesture and yet everybody’s attacking me over it!”

“It was a terrible thing you did. Plus, I don’t even understand why you would bother taking his phone instead of just impersonating him in person considering you look exactly the same.”

Hinata pouted. “Don’t bother questioning me any further because I really regret it. I shouldn’t have done it at all. See? I’m just like your dad.”

Tetora shut his mouth as soon as he opened it when a bell rang through the air.

“Ohh, lunch is over already, huh,” Hinata mused.

“Wait,” Tetora said as Hinata started to get up. His heart started to pound. “Can I tell you somethin’ I’ve never told anybody before?”

“Yes, please! I’d like two big scoops of it! Do we have the time?”

“Uhh, no, but,” Tetora looked away. “Do you wanna meet me after school?”

“After school?!” Hinata gasped dramatically. “Okay, but just so you know, I’m already hyping myself up for a love confession.”

Tetora huffed. “Meet me at the dojo after practice is done. ‘Nd don’t say anymore weird things like that, or I'm gonna have to cancel it.”

“Okie dokie,” Hinata said in sing-song.

A pit grew in Tetora’s stomach. Again.

What was he thinking?


	5. Chapter 5

Tetora waited by himself in the dojo a few hours after he spoke with Hinata. He couldn't help but regret promising information on the most important moment of his life on just a whim. He didn’t even tell him the story on a whim, but he scheduled a _telling_ of the story on a whim. It was incredibly stupid. He's overtaken by his nervousness.

There was a rustle by the door before it opened and Hinata’s head peeked out. “Please excuse my interruption, everybody,” he said to an almost empty room.

“Hey. Come in,” Tetora said.

Hinata walked into the room. “Why isn’t there anybody else here? Shouldn’t practice have ended just a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah, in theory. There’s only two other guys in the karate club and neither of them showed up today, so it’s just me.”

“Aww. Do you wanna practice with me, then?”

“No, I got my practice in. They don’t usually show.”

Hinata sat down in front of Tetora. “That’s so sad! If you told me sooner, I would’ve changed clubs juust for you.”

“You don’t have to do somethin’ like that. I doubt Yuta-kun would be interested in joinin’ with you anyways.”

“You’d be surprised. We can do anything, after all.”

Tetora looked around the room awkwardly. He had no idea how to start the conversation Hinata came here for, so he was half hoping Hinata would say something. He stared him down in an attempt to encourage Hinata to start them back up where they let off. He'd never let sleeping dogs lie before.

Hinata stayed silent, against all odds. He just smiled and waited for his cue.

Once Tetora started to think he understood his weird little friend he proved, once again, that his actions are completely unpredictable.

“Ok, so…” Tetora started with pins and needles in his throat. “You’re sure you’re ok with me tellin’ you something real personal? Like, so personal it’s ridiculous?”

“I want to hear it more than anything in the world!” Hinata clasped his hands together. “Just to get it out of the way, I love you too, Tetsu-kun, and it feels amazing to get that off my chest.”

“I already told you it wasn’t anything like that!”

Hinata giggled. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t lie because you were embarrassed.”

“I’m no good at lying…” Tetora looked away. “I wanted to tell you… my dad ain’t my real dad. Like, he didn’t birth me himself.”

“I never assumed your dad gave birth to you, so, sorry, not very surprised.”

“I didn’t mean it like that! I meant…” Tetora huffed.

“I’m sorry, I won’t joke anymore. You're adopted? You’ve really never told anybody this?”

Tetora scratched his neck. “I don’t want people to pity me for it or nothin’… y'know, the fact I can’t even remember having real parents, or how nobody could ever tell me why.” Tetora rubbed his foot against his leg nervously as he exhaled a deep breath. “...From as far as I can remember, I was just living with relatives that had their own life goin’ on, ‘nd I was just kinda there taking up space. I bounced from house to house for a while. They were all different in a lot of ways, but they all had the same two things in common, and that’s all I can remember for most of ‘em.”

“What’s that?”

“They wouldn’t tell me why I was there and they didn’t care that I was.”

“Tetsu-kuun, that’s so sad!”

“Not really… It wasn’t that bad. It’s not like I was familiar with anything else. The best part was when I started livin’ with someone honest enough to give me up to an orphanage instead.”

Hinata covered his eyes with one arm and flailed in front of him with the other. “It’s too sad when you put it like that!”

Tetora chuckled awkwardly. “It’s how I felt, though. I can remember the feeling with some surprising clarity. It’s not like it was super great there, but I didn’t have to worry about anybody’s approval during the few years I was at the orphanage… Somehow, for the whole time I was there, I could never get along with the kids my age. I ended up getting lonely, but… I liked it better there. I always did.”

Hinata gawked at Tetora with puppy dog eyes, but said nothing in response.

“It’s not all sad! ‘Cuz… ‘Cuz after a few years, my dad showed up.”

Hinata clasped his hands together. “Yay!”

“He was just walkin’ by, kinda lookin’ at everyone play, and all the other kids got all scared and went to play at the other end of the playground when he showed up, but I thought he was the coolest guy I’d ever seen! He had this lonely look in his eyes I could never manage to describe. I had to talk to him. Said he was surprised I wanted to.”

“It’s happily ever after from there, right?”

“Uh, kinda… It wasn’t something that happened right away, though. He kept coming by for a few months before he scooped me outta there." Tetora looked at the ceiling. "I don’t remember the time frame too well, but I was eight when I met him and I turned nine by the time he adopted me.”

“So he’s only been your dad for…” Hinata made a show of slowly counting on his fingers. “Seven years? I never would’ve guessed you would be that old by the time you found a family!”

"Yeah… I didn’t really expect to ever get adopted. I was really, really happy then. No… I’ve been happy ever since.”

Hinata rested his face against his hand and smiled. “I’m glad you told me even though it must’ve been tough. I totally get why you admire your dad so much now.”

“That’s why it’s… hard for me. I dunno.”

“You don’t have to “dunno~” me, because I understand.”

Tetora made eye contact with Hinata for the first time since starting his story. “Thanks.”

“Your dad sounds really nice. Maybe you’ll let me meet him one of these days…?”

Tetora smiled awkwardly. “Umm…”

Hinata whined and jumped on Tetora, haphazardly ruffling his hair. “Why won’t you let me come to your house?! It’s like you’ve banished me to rot inside this school forever!”

“What are youー Get off of me!”

ー

Tetora laid in his bed. Opening up to Hinata filled his head with sentimental thoughts he had all but forgotten. He had never stopped to think about it before, but he might be taking the life he’s gotten to live with his father for granted. Kuro deserved to get back the love he's invested in Tetora at an interest rate of at least one-thousand percent, even if ensuring his happiness meant letting the devil himself take him out to an amusement park. An amusement park was a pretty big jump so dinner had to be a good enough start, he thought to himself as he unlocked his phone to text Chiaki back. He responded within seconds and agreed to Tetora’s proposal in a text that contained enough emojis to fill up an additional text.

The next day, Chiaki arrived at their apartment earlier than expected. Tetora made it halfway to the door before Kuro beat him to the punch to open it instead.

“Ahh, it’s so good to see you,” Chiaki said as he waltzed through the door frame.

“Hey, babe,” Kuro replied. He slung an arm around Chiaki who responded with a kiss on the lips.

Tetora shrieked and covered his face.

“It’s good to see you, too, Tetora!” Chiaki shouted.

Tetora was careful to keep averting his eyes. “Uh, thanks for coming,” he said.

“Sorry to say, but dinner’s gonna be a bit longer. Didn’t think you’d get here yet,” Kuro said. He let go of Chiaki and walked back to the kitchen.

“Oh, I didn’t think it’d be done when I got here! I thought I’d be able to spend some time with Tetora while you were cooking. I’m surprised you started without me,” Chiaki said.

“That so? Little guy was busy helping me with the prep work, though, so I think it worked out like this. You can have at him now,” Kuro said.

“Have at me? Do you have to say it like it’s something I should be scared of?”

Chiaki laughed while he made his way toward Tetora, his arms outstretched in front of him. “There’s no need to be scared of your new dad!”

“No, stop! Don’t hug me!” Tetora shrieked.

“Honey, we talked about this,” Kuro piped in from the kitchen.

“I’m sorry!” Chiaki pleaded.

After his initial outburst was over and done, their dinner went well. Maybe spending more time with him _wouldn’t_ be the worst thing in the world, but that's just a thought. He avoided Chiaki a little less as the good times he had with him started to outweigh the bad and the ugly, but he still felt a pit in his stomach whenever he reminded himself that him and his dad were going to have to chuck the remnants of their old lives into the melting pot along with Chiaki and Midori’s lives.

The pill was difficult to swallow because it was the size of a golf ball and all he got to wash it down with was generic cough syrup. It tasted like chalk when he tried to bite it into smaller chunks.

April arrived too soon for him to stomach the taste. The day of the wedding approached whether he wanted it to or not.

Midori sat on the floor of Tetora’s bedroom. “Uhh… Where am I supposed to be putting these?” He asked. He looked toward Tetora with a magazine in his hand.

“I want all my books ‘n stuff in that box,” Tetora said, pointing a few feet away from where Midori sat.

Midori nodded and carefully filled the box with the magazines he stacked around himself.

Tetora had a good amount of experience with packing. His dad agreed to let him wait until the day before the wedding to break his room down into boxes since his specialty is packing with a short deadline. The thought he puts into packing does a lot to take his mind off of the pressure of being involved in someone else’s life-altering event the very next day. He hadn’t had to put any of his experience to use in years, but he was making good time.

Midori picked up a notebook and a pencil. “Do you want these in there too…?”

Tetora looked over after he stuffed a pile of clothes in his suitcase. “No, those should go in my bag. I’ll get to those myself.”

Midori responded with the same light nod he'd given a hundred times already.

Tetora stared at his suitcase and tried his hardest to find a gap he could squeeze more clothes into. He wondered if re-folding some of his shirts into some sort of slim rectangle would make them fit in along the edge, and if the result would be worth the effort of refolding a third of it.

“Uhh… There’s a lot of stuff under your bed. That’s such a bother, I don’t even know where to start with all that…”

Tetora took a deep breath. “I’m not askin’ you to clean under my bed.” He was making good time despite the fact that Midori’s help was more distracting than anything. “I don’t think I need help with anything at this point, actually.”

“Are you kicking me out?” Midori let out a heavy, almost aggressive sigh. “Even though I don’t have anything else to do and my dad won’t let me leave. If I have to sit out there with our dads I… I really might die. I’ll take it into my own hands if I have to.”

“What are you even talking about? I didn’t say you had to leave.”

“You didn’t, but if I’m useless in here then it really doesn’t leave me feeling better.”

“I didn’t say you were useless or nothin’ either. It’s just easier for me to do it since I know how I want my stuff sorted.” Tetora zipped up his suitcase. “I’ve done this a lot of times.”

Midori didn’t respond. Tetora got up to take his jackets down from the closet when his attention was caught by the sound of a door shutting.

“That sound… Was that the front door?” Midori asked.

“Pretty sure. They leave or somethin’?” Tetora asked in response.

Midori was opening Tetora’s door to investigate before he even asked his follow-up question. “Um… I don’t see them,” he said before he walked out of the room.

“Hey,” Tetora started. He laid the jackets he was holding on his bed to follow after Midori. “You can’t just leave me here. I wanna know what’s up!”

Tetora and Midori stood by themselves in the living room. “They must’ve left somewhere,” Midori observed.

“…Wonder why.” Tetora glanced over at their coffee table and his eyes took a double take after seeing Kuro’s phone on it. He walked over and picked it up. “Might not be gone long. My dad left his phone.”

Midori walked right next to Tetora to look at the phone. “That’s weird… Can you try seeing if it has any clues?”

Tetora turned on his father's phone. “Nothing’s on here.” He unlocked it out of reflex since his father doesn't have any sort of password on his phone. “Yeah. I dunno.”

“Oh. Umm…”

Tetora glanced back at Midori. “Is something wrong? Did you figure something out?”

Midori shook his head. “No, but…” He pointed at the screen. “Can I ask who that girl in the picture is…?”

Tetora blinked. His eyes fell back to the phone screen as if he didn’t know what Midori was talking about. As if he hadn’t seen the picture a hundred times since the day Kuro took it. “The lock screen? That’s my aunt. Dad took that picture the last time we visited her.”

“Your aunt? Like, as in your dad’s sister? She doesn’t look like him…”

“Everyone says that, but I don’t get it! Ain’t it obvious they’re related?”

“Umm… Maybe if I looked at it closer I could tell.”

Tetora realized he held the phone further away once Midori brought attention to his dad’s favorite picture of him. He locked Kuro’s phone as soon as he felt his face warming up. “Didn’t you get a good enough look already? You don’t really needa see it again.”

Midori let out a two-hit combo of a shrug and an eye-roll. “You were the one with the problem…”

“Okay, let’s just put this down,” Tetora said as he put the phone back where he found it.

Midori stared at him with his eyebrows furrowed. He looked confused.

Tetora copied his expression without thinking. “What? I don’t like that picture of me, ‘kay?”

“Oh… If you hate it that much, why don’t you ask him to change it?”

“He won’t listen to me. He says he can't change it since it’s a picture of his two favorite people in the world.”

“Take a new one, then…”

“I would if I could, but she lives far away. We don’t get to see her often. He always gets a few new pictures of us together but I always look terrible, or I like blink or somethin', like, I end up hating it no matter what but he doesn't care.”

Midori rolled his eyes and left the room. Tetora followed suit after he huffed to himself for a minute.

ー

By noon the next day, the wedding was half an hour away from being in full swing. It wasn’t anywhere near the level of crazy Tetora always saw on TV. Though, the scale was also smaller than any he’d seen. The building was small, the crowd of guests was small, and even the person standing in place of a legitimate officiator was small. Well, small fit the theme, but short would be the polite way to put it. Most of the people that were unrelated to the wedding aside from bearing witness talked to each other casually as they waited for it to start.

Tetora left the main hall to go back to the room his dad was getting ready in. Watching everyone crowd around each other started making him antsy. He opened the door carefully and popped his head through the doorway since he received no protests.

His father was right where he left him, making last minute adjustments to his appearance in the mirror. Tetora doesn't know what he could spend so long fiddling with. His hair looked the same as it always did, his white suit was immaculate, and, as far as Tetora knew, he wasn’t wearing any make-up.

Kuro looked back at Tetora. “Oh, Tetsu. When’d you sneak outta here?” He asked.

“Like, ten minutes ago. Was I not ‘sposed to leave?”

“I kinda didn’t want anybody seein’ your cute lil’ get-up ahead of time, but it ain’t that big a deal. It’s funny 'cuz I didn’t even notice you left. Guess I spent a good amount of time talkin’ to myself.”

“To yourself…?” Tetora looked around the room. “Where’d auntie go?”

“She left to wait somewhere else. She said I was bein’ annoying tryna fix her up and stabbed me with a pin before she left.”

Tetora’s eyes shot wide open. “You got stabbed while I was gone?!”

“Well, maybe stabbed wasn’t the right choice of words… My sleeves took the brunt of it so I only got a little prick.” Kuro scratched his face. “I pricked her first, but it was an accident. I swear.”

Tetora bit his lip. She probably wouldn’t have done something like that in front of him, but he left them alone.

“I’m real glad you came back. There probably ain’t a single worse time in the world to be left to my own devices. I can’t remember the last time I was this flustered,” Kuro said.

“‘M sorry for leavin’ you alone, Dad! I had no good reason, so I’ll stay ‘til you tell me I’m free to go!”

Kuro laughed. “This ain't some jail. It’s a wedding.”

Tetora plopped down on a couch on the other side of the room. He loosened his tie while his father wasn’t looking, because he thought he would have something to say about him messing with his perfect little outfit, because it was uncomfortable to the point of choking him. Kuro had been, for over a month, completely overbearing about their wedding attire. Tetora didn’t want to blame him for it considering he had custom tailored four suits and a dress all by himself for just this one day, but he was more annoying about it now than at any other point. He can understand why his aunt snapped at him.

All four of the guys wore the same white three-piece suit. They each had a fresh rose pinned in front of their heart that morning, and both the boys had their hair combed up and to the side to keep it out of their faces.

The adults in waiting gawked at him, they said his suit was amazing, but it was hard to see what the fuss was about. The only difference in suits Tetora ever noticed was the color and even then he mistook blue suits for black suits. He was forced to believe every nice word said about them since his dad making something poorly wasn’t feasible.

Kuro checked the watch he hid underneath his sleeve. “We won’t be waiting much longer. Just ten minutes left, bud.”

Tetora’s heart jumped in his chest. Hopefully Kuro was as nervous as him.

The sound of an organ pierced through the air moments before Kuro and his sister started to walk down the aisle with their arms looped around each other. Seeing a bouquet in Kuro’s sister’s arms was a little jarring considering she wasn’t the one getting married.

Tetora stood at the altar along with his step-father, step-brother, and some blond guy Tetora hadn’t been introduced to beforehand. He assumed he was Chiaki’s best man. He felt a little less self-conscious seeing Chiaki’s bangs were swept out of his face the same as his.

The ceremony played out the same as it did on TV despite all the abnormalities they’d sprinkled into the rest of it. The grooms said some sappy words to each other with the short guy in between them peppering in his script, and they exchanged their rings with each other when prompted. The guests clapped and the bouquet was thrown after they shared their kiss. They grabbed each other and mashed their faces together, which was more over-the-top than Tetora was expecting, and he tried to see as little of it as possible.

Their complete lack of shame was embarrassing, and yet from even his small glimpses he couldn’t help but notice how happy they were.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just in case it's not clear: in kuro and tetoras house they had the american doors with Door Knobs we're all so familiar with but chiaki and midoris house has more traditional sliding doors on the inside. wee!

“Well look at you, muscleman,” Kuro teased. “Don’t tell me you’re plannin’ to carry all those by yourself.”

Tetora struggled under the weight of all the boxes he stacked and picked up. “I am, and, I’m not puttin’ em down, til I’m inside the house,” he huffed out even though he reserved no breath to supplement those words.

Kuro snatched two boxes off the top of Tetora’s three-box tower. “No, you’re not. There’s no reason to be in that big a hurry,” he said. He made off inside the house with the boxes that Tetora swears he could’ve carried himself.

Tetora groaned to himself and started to stack a new tower of boxes. The wedding was over, there was a new ring on his dad’s left hand, and it was time to move everything into their new-to-them house. Even though Tetora wanted so desperately to show off and strongarm all the boxes at once, it's undeniable that there's no rush to be had. This was only the second time he’d ever been to the house, and the first time he'll see his new bedroom. His new bedroom that, until this very day, belonged solely to his new brother. The bedroom he purposely avoided looking at when he first came.

His excitement was almost nonexistent with all the anxiety swishing alongside his stomach acids.

Tetora picked up his new stack of boxes. He managed to walk towards the front door without expending all his energy since one of the boxes was particularly light only to be stopped halfway as his father emerged from the doorway.

“Thanks,” Kuro said, stealing a box off the top of Tetora’s tower.

Tetora whined. “Knock it off, please gimme that back!”

Kuro tilted his head and shook the box up and down. “Yeah, this one ain’t that bad.” Tetora’s box was returned to his stack. “Sorry for intruding. You’re real tough for supportin’ all this.”

“Tough? You really think so?” Tetora smiled with his mouth agape.

Kuro nodded.

Tetora practically hopped up the porch steps and stopped right in front of the closed door. He blinked at it, hoping to will it open with his eyes. “Uh… Door, please.”

“‘Course.” Kuro hurried to the door and opened it.

Tetora walked in the door carefully. He’d seen the inside of the house before, but he couldn’t help but gawk at it all over again as he stepped inside. It was so much bigger than what he was used to that it was almost overwhelming. The entryway was fairly wide and long, with a bathroom on one side and a closet on the other. Going through the entryway showed the kitchen and living room weren’t completely separated, but they looked like two separate spaces rather than one multi-purpose room.

He looked around and his eyes caught on the door to his new bedroom before he placed the boxes on the floor by the couch in the living room. The door to the room was ajar and none of his boxes were in his immediate sight, which meant his dad had already deposited some of his stuff inside the room, but he really didn’t want to get a look at it until he had to. He heard no complaints about dropping his stuff in the living room for the whole time they were unloading.

He did notice, though, that neither Midori or Chiaki were present the whole time Tetora and Kuro were buzzing in and out of the house.

“You said both of them are here, right?” Tetora asked after settling down on the couch.

“Promise. I would think you could tell by the ruckus they’re making over in your father’s room,” Kuro replied.

Tetora stifled a wince at the usage of “your father”, but there _were_ a lot of weird sounds coming from one of the other rooms. “I guess. It doesn’t sound like it’s both of them, though.”

Kuro plopped down beside Tetora on the couch. “Well, it sounded like they were quarreling a few times, so I’m sure he’s in there too. You know he talks all quiet.”

“Yeah…” Tetora glanced around the house restlessly. “Uh, what are we ‘sposed to do now that we got everything out the car? Do I gotta start unpacking right now, or…?”

“Let’s wait a few minutes. Your father said he’s got a special housewarming surprise for us.”

Tetora fell back against the couch. He felt a little queasy imagining what sort of thing Chiaki considered a “housewarming surprise”. “‘Kay,” he replied.

He hadn’t had enough time to settle on an expectation before the preparations seemed to be done. Chiaki came out from his room dragging Midori behind him by the wrist. “Hey, you two! You get everything inside already?” Chiaki asked. “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting for too long.”

“Just a few minutes,” Kuro said before he hoisted himself over the back of the couch to look in their direction. He stifled a laugh. “Woah. Lookin’ good over there, babe.”

Tetora stopped turning as he heard Kuro’s reaction. Never before had he been filled with a fear as potent as he felt then.

“This old thing? I’m so glad you appreciate it! I’m really excited to share this with you two,” Chiaki said. He made his way in front of where they were seated, and…

He was dressed, full-body, like a character from a children’s superhero show. Midori’s warning that his dad dragged him around seemed to be truer than Tetora hoped, but it looked like he managed to come out of Chiaki’s room unscathed. Chiaki looked even more out of place standing next to Midori when he was only wearing a headband with stars attached at the end of some springs.

Chiaki walked over to a specific wall adorned with lights and pulled a string from which a backdrop fell down all the way to the floor.

Tetora’s eyes shot around the room, again, his brain only just registering why there were glass display cases of action figures littered across the house. What the hell was up with this? Why does he have all these things? Does he do this often? Tetora felt unadulterated fear of the unknown.

“We’re going to put on a little show we’ve been practicing just for you two! Right, Midori?” Chiaki asked.

“I… it isn’t too late,” Midori said. “You guys… you have the power to put me out of this misery. Shoot him… now.”

Chiaki laughed, painfully enunciating each syllable. “The show has only just begun! Or rather, it has yet to begin at all!” Chiaki swung his arms around before posing. “Action hero, TRANSFORM!”

Chiaki stared at Midori who was standing a few feet away doing nothing.

“Remember, that’s your cue!” Chiaki re-did his pose. “Action hero, TRANSFORM!”

Midori raised his arms and let out a half-hearted growl. “I’ll stop you here, or else… I’ll get in trouble, I guess, with the other monsters…”

“I won’t let you! I have no sympathy for those who cause harm to the innocent!” Chiaki gave Midori a small thumbs-up. “For that, _I_ will stop _you_!”

Tetora cringed with his whole body. Even if the concept itself wasn’t the most embarrassing thing he could think of the execution was horrible. There was nothing to give context for the scene which already made the story hard to follow a mere three lines into it.

He looked over at Kuro whose hand barely covered an amused grin. Tetora couldn’t comprehend how he could be genuinely enjoying their show. Was he trying not to laugh at them?

“Here’s my ultimate move,” Midori said as he swatted the air in front of Chiaki with great apathy. 

With a shout, Chiaki went barreling to the floor. “Agh, it’s so powerful!”

“Hey, can we get a time-out real quick?” Kuro asked, startling Tetora.

Chiaki rolled over on the floor but didn’t get off it. “Ah, is something wrong?” He asked.

“It’s just…” Kuro shrugged. “I’m wonderin’ where all the enthusiasm’s at. Like, I’m gettin’ so much from you, but Midori… Nothin’.”

“Sorry, but I don’t have the capacity for enthusiasm when it comes to my dad’s stupid hobbies…” Midori said.

“Don’t call something stupid before you give it a genuine try,” Kuro said.

Midori rolled his eyes. “That’s hardly even applicable.”

“Well, in this world, if you don’t wanna do it then someone else will.” Kuro got up from the couch and walked up to Midori to yank the headband off him and putting it on his own head. He looked down at Chiaki. “What’re my lines?”

Chiaki’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “Honey…!”

Kuro helped him up off the floor and Chiaki whispered into his ear. Tetora watched as Midori tried to use their impromptu strategy meeting to weasel into his bedroom.

“Oh, Midori,” Chiaki piped in once he noticed for himself. “Where are you going? Come sit on the couch with your brother! It’s not over yet.”

Midori slinked back to the couch and laid down. Tetora felt bad for him for just a moment, but sticking around to keep Tetora from bearing witness to their dads making asses of themselves alone was the least his new brother could do for him.

The story seemed to flow a bit better with Kuro in it. “You won’t be getting back up again after my ultimate move,” Kuro said. He made a grand gesture of knocking Chiaki over the head with both of his arms.

Chiaki, like the first time, barreled to the floor with a shout. “This power…! I don’t… I don’t know if I can beat it by myself,” he said, but he jumped back on his feet in the blink of an eye. He looked straight at Tetora and Midori. “And I won’t! For this is a story of friendship, struggling, and growing, and…”

Kuro grabbed Chiaki’s waist and pulled him closer. “...And love.”

Chiaki looked straight into Kuro's eyes and blinked rapidly. “Love…?”

Midori groaned and Tetora followed suit with a louder groan. Midori threw one of the throw pillows he was laying on at them and Tetora did not. They kept the story going for at least half an hour longer despite heavy protests from fans. It all made dinner a little awkward.

Chiaki’s surprise was so embarrassing it was better described as mortifying, or maybe even traumatizing, but Tetora would be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel less anxious about moving in. He realized his bedroom would end up being a safe haven away from their dads since his dad never made a habit of coming into his room.

Tetora stood with his hand gripping the door. He stared at the floor, letting out one last quick and heavy breath before opening it fully and looking up into the room. The first thing his eyes caught on was Midori laying on his bed with his back facing Tetora. The second thing he noticed was the sheer _size_ of the room. It was at least twice as big as his old bedroom.

He turned around to get his things immediately as he felt his anxiety fade away.

ー

Tetora woke up late the next morning, which wasn’t a surprise. Not only had he stayed up too late with his dad and Chiaki, but he hardly managed to fall asleep the night before. Tetora sat up and stretched. His temporary set-up of a futon on the floor was more comfortable than anticipated if nothing else.

He hopped to his feet and looked over at Midori, who was still asleep despite the fact that he went to bed before anybody else did. He exited the room before giving himself the chance to wake up since his mind was focused solely on how his bladder was about to burst.

“Good morning, Tetora!” Chiaki shouted from the kitchen once he saw Tetora walk out of the door.

“Uhh, morning,” Tetora replied.

“Are you alright there? You look a little confused.”

“I just woke up, uh,” Tetora started as his head scrambled to form a sentence. “And I don’t remember where the bathroom is.”

“It’s over there!” Chiaki pointed by the front door.

Tetora nodded and headed toward what he was pretty sure was the right door. He washed his face, feeling significantly more conscious when he left. He noticed now that Chiaki wasn’t in the kitchen by himself, but Kuro's there too. Even though there should be plenty of room for both of them to stand apart they're huddled right next to each other. Tetora walked over to the kitchen and stood awkwardly.

Kuro looked over his shoulder at him. “Not too much longer to go on breakfast. You wanna wait at the table, bud?”

Tetora sat down at the table as recommended. “How come you guys aren’t tired?” He asked. “You were still up when I went to bed.”

“Yeah, we were up pretty late, but getting up anyway’s a special skill adults gotta learn,” Kuro replied.

Midori woke up after everything was finished and reluctantly joined them, and after their first family breakfast was done Tetora got right back to his room to unpack. Midori followed right after him and plopped back on top of his bed.

Tetora sat on the floor with his legs crossed and wondered if he's supposed to be concerned about Midori being laid out face down so early in the morning. He knew he was supposed to be concerned when Midori crawled back under the comforter and reached out to hug one of the larger plush toys on his bed. He didn’t say anything, though, as his attention was instead stuck on something he had only really noticed now that his tightly strung nerves were loosened the slightest bit.

Midori had tons of plush toys on his bed. They took up as much of his bed as another person would, and it didn’t even stop at just random cutesy plushies being thrown around on top of his comforter. Tetora couldn’t even tell if he just had a pillow case that matched the theme or if his head pillow was actually a plushie of its own. And it wasn’t just his bed, either. While plushies made up the majority of the decorations there were cute little ceramics, hard looking dolls, and even posters similar to the hero themed ones in the living room.

“You’re creeping me out… I can feel you staring at me, you know,” Midori said, his eyes half-lidded.

Tetora jumped. He didn’t notice Midori turn over. “M’sorry!” He blurted out.

“You can say that, but you’re still looking at me.”

“I wasn’t even looking at you before you scolded me! I just didn’t notice all the toys you had all over your bed last night, so I wanted to get a look at them.”

“Don’t call them toys…”

“‘Kay, sorry. But if you’ve got all that stuff on your bed and, uh, kind of all over the room actually, does that mean all the action figures and hero memorabilia in the living room is yours too? I didn’t know you liked that kinda stuff.” Tetora idly rubbed his sock against his leg. “Especially not to that kinda extent.”

Midori’s expression turned sour. “No, all of that is absolutely not mine… All of that stuff belongs to my dad.”

“So your dad is the one who collects toys… That’s kinda significantly weirder considering how old he is, assumin’ he’s about my dad’s age. Is all the stuff in here his too?”

“No! No a thousand times. Don’t lump his weird hobbies onto mine like that, or else… I don’t know, I really don’t know what I would do. Just don’t.”

Tetora looked away. “Okay, okay. Sorry. The real cute stuff is yours and the cool stuff belongs to your dad.” He’d like to say something akin to, _you two are more similar than I thought_ , but the death glare Midori has been giving him for the whole conversation tells him it's a thought better kept to himself. Though when he looked back at Midori, his expression was entirely different.

“You think they’re cute, too…?” A smile played at the corners of Midori’s mouth. “I love almost all mascot characters… I have a lot more stuff of them, cos my dad buys me just about anything I ask for, but he said I should I put some away so you could have half of the room for your things. It broke my heart to play favorites like that…”

“No way! You had your room filled even more than this? It’s weird to think of you wanting things. You always seem kinda…” Tetora made a gesture with his hand. “I dunno. Apathetic? Void of desires?”

“When I see a mascot I like, I absolutely have to have it. So I have a lot of stuff…”

“Some’a that stuff gets pretty expensive, right? I guess not even your own father can buy your love.”

“It does, but it’s fine ‘cos my dad makes good money. He never complains about it or anything.”

Tetora reached a few feet over for one of his boxes. He dug inside it for a few moments. He felt around, picking at a framed photo, a roll of tape and a jar of beads before his brain came back to him with a question. “…What does your dad even do? I dunno much about him, now that I think about it.”

“Like, his career?” Midori rolled onto his back and held the plush he was hugging up to the air. “He’s an actor…”

“An actor?!” Tetora’s eyes widened in shock and fixed themselves on Midori while he waited for more details. 

Midori’s attention didn’t stray from his plush. His mouth stayed straight and shut as he played with its arms. Apparently “he’s an actor” was all he felt necessary to say, as if it could possibly be a satisfying end to the conversation.

“…What kinda stuff is he in, then?” Tetora urged.

“Umm… He’s mostly in B-list movies and TV shows for kids. Sometimes teen stuff, too. I think he’s talked about doing some other stuff on top of that, but…” Midori set his plush down on his stomach. “I haven’t watched his stuff since I was a kid and I try to make sure the things he tells me go in one ear and out the other.”

“Oh, so he’s not super famous. I guess that’s why you guys don’t live in a mansion or nothin’.”

“Maybe, but, I think it’s really just ‘cos this is all the space we need. Or… needed, at the time, I guess, but we haven’t lived here very long.”

Tetora nodded. “They jumped into this marriage thing real fast, huh.”

“I guess? They’ve known each other for a long time though, so yeah, I guess that’s fine…”

“What? Really?”

Midori shrugged. “Yes…?”

"Do ya know how long?"

"Like, awhile."

Tetora kept the rest of his questions to himself even though he wanted to continue prying Midori for information. It was obvious he wasn’t going to get anything else out of him.


	7. Chapter 7

“Stop it! What are you doing?!” Tetora exclaimed, yanking his arm away.

“Sorry, I’m sorrrry, your drink just looked really sweet and tasty, so I wanted to know what it tasted like soo bad,” Hinata replied.

“You can’t just do something like that without permission, you know. It’s messed up. If he says it’s good then just order one for yourself next time,” Tomoya added.

“Is it really that bad? I always want to share things with you, Tomoya-kun… It’s a little bit romantic,” Hajime said.

“No, don’t say something like that! Especially not when…” Tetora stuck his tongue out. “Now it’s gonna be like we kissed!”

“You’re a man, aren’t you, Tetsu-kun? Be a man, sip from your straw and kiss me!” Hinata shouted.

Tetora lifted his shirt's collar and buried his face in it. “No, stop it! I don’ wanna kiss you! Why’re you guys so mean?!”

Tomoya laughed. “It’s funny to think how afraid I was that we wouldn’t get to hang out like this anymore when our classes got mixed around.”

“Going up a year still sucks, though!” Hinata pointed at Tomoya. “How could you dare try and speak for us when you still get to see Tetsu-kun in class everyday?"

“Well, you get to see Hajime! I feel so suffocated in that classroom without him. I am very thirsty, and I’m crawling around in a desert that doesn’t have an oasis. And, I mean, weren't you happy about being in the same class as your brother?!"

"Ohh, you're right. No offense, but I would trade Tetsu-kun for Yuta-kun any day!" Hinata crossed his arms. "So, I guess you understand me. You get my vote for group spokesman!”

Hajime interrupted with a gasp, pointing at a store to their right. “Ah, can we go in this one? It has all the nice scented candles.”

Their group of four split away from the corridors of the mall to enter a small candle shop. Their little friend group hadn’t seen much of each other in the few weeks since they went up a year, so they made plans for everyone to hang out together. The whole clique was here save for his step-brother, which was a lovely turn of events for the one who’s also spent the past few weeks learning to share a bedroom with him. Even if it turned out sharing a bedroom was actually a lot more tolerable than he anticipated. Midori took up so little presence in their room it straddled the border between refreshing and creepy.

Their group exited the candle shop some fifteen minutes later, a thousand different scents now living in everybody’s noses, walking around without a goal for all but a minute. “Hey, what about that one next?” Tomoya pointed at some sort of tourist-y gift shop. “Those statues in the window look cool.”

With displays full of cheap home decor, t-shirts and refrigerator magnets, the shop was just as big a tourist trap as expected. Tomoya and Hinata splintered off to laugh at the tackier crap heaps, leaving Tetora and Hajime to look around for things that were worth walking inside for. Some of their products _did_ look cool enough to tempt Tetora. He found his feet glued to the floor in front of a rolled out and placed display poster of a tiger. The lines were pulled together with thick strokes of black ink (of course, it wasn’t _fresh_ ink, it was obviously mass-produced) and brief splashes of watercolor.

“Oh, that’s very pretty,” Hajime said, moving beside Tetora. “You seem like you’re interested in it.”

“Umm… Yeah, I think it’s real cool,” Tetora replied.

He read the sentence in the upper-right corner again. _“Brave like a tiger,”_ it said, a phrase easily understood even by foreigners learning Japanese.

Tetora furrowed his brows. “I don’t usually go for posters. Dunno why I’m stuck on this one.”

“You don’t need a good reason to like something, do you?”

“You’re right. I guess my new room’s like… lacking some personality. Midori-kun’s got so much stuff on his side, but I don’t got nothing special, it’s really just my bed and a dresser. It’s got this weird contrast-y feel to it. Maybe something like this would be nice to have? But, it’s like, it don’t even got something on it to hang it with. It’s just paper. I’d have to tape it to the wall or somethin’.”

“You’re overthinking this,” Tomoya chimed in, splintering off from Hinata. “Don’t you like it? You should buy it.”

Tetora looked over at Tomoya awkwardly. “Yeah, but…”

“No, no buts. If you can’t decide then I’m gonna buy it for you. How do you like that? There’s nothing you can do about it now.”

“What, really?! Thanks!”

Tetora couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of their excursion.

ー

The next day, he was pinning the same poster up in his side of the room. It made him feel warm and fuzzy looking at it. Accepting gifts always made him feel a little awkward, but spending time out with his friends was nice and calming as opposed to the chaotic time he’d been having trying to adjust to living with two new people. Things were definitely changing.

Kuro wasn’t exactly neglecting him, he was actually getting more time with him than he was a month or two ago, but being there to witness all the times he splits his attention away from him in favor of someone else leaves envy swirling in his stomach. Watching his two fathers be all lovey-dovey with each other left a more unpleasant feeling. Kuro looked happier than he had in a long time, which should be a good thing, but jealousy is apparently not a disease he can do away with overnight. He was currently losing the battle of trying to keep it from affecting his opinion of his new father and brother, though he had been trying so very hard to for his father’s sake.

His smile straightened back out. He sighed to himself and pressed a corner of his poster hard against the wall. Midori slid the cracked door open and walked in the room.

“I’m not sure if that’s level at the top…” Midori chimed in from behind Tetora.

“It’s… probably ok. If it’s a little crooked then it gives it more character, right?” Tetora replied.

“Okay…” 

Tetora watched Midori take a sweater from the closet out of the corner of his eye. Tetora, clad in a t-shirt due to the warming weather, cocked an eyebrow at him. “It’s really that cold in here to you?”

“Not particularly… I’m going out with my dad. My favorite shop was supposed to get some new stuff in today and he promised he’d take me there before he left town on his business trip…”

Tetora took his hands off the wall and pouted towards Midori. “You guys are just gonna go without even asking me?!”

“Whatー”

Chiaki burst through the doorway. “Did I just hear what I think I heard, Tetora?! You’re interested in joining Midori and I on our trip, aren’t you! I didn’t know you liked the same stuff as your brother, so please forgive me for not extending an invitation to you or your father!”

“Oh. It’s just you and Midori-kun, then?” Tetora asked.

“Yes, but there’s room for one, no, _two_ more! I have room for even five more if need be, but it would start to get cramped in the car by then. And a little illegal, too. Don't worry about it though!”

Tetora turned back to his poster and pressed in another corner. “I don’t wanna. I dunno why I assumed everybody was going but me.”

“Your father’s out running a few errands for me down the street, but I’ll wait a few extra minutes to leave incase you change your mind!”

“You don’t have to do that. So, don’t do that.”

Chiaki laughed. “Suit yourself! Midori, are you ready now?”

Midori picked his bag up from off the wall. “Yeah…”

“We’ll be back later! You shouldn’t be home alone for long, but have fun and stay behaved!” Chiaki waved frantically as him and Midori left the room. 

They neglected to close the door on their way out, but Tetora didn’t feel like going out of his way to close it back. He took one last glance at his poster and sighed before dropping down onto his bed. The crookedness bothered him more than he thought it would. He picked up his phone and got lost in browsing and contemplating what he could do with the house all to himself. Tetora’s stomach growled and he realized within one moment that since nobody was in the house there was nobody that could stop him from cooking something for himself.

He hopped up off his bed with a smile on his face and rolled up his sleeves in preparation before he walked towards the door. A sudden knock on his door jolted his body upright, fear freezing his body before Kuro’s head popped in through the crack.

“Hey,” Kuro said as if he hadn’t just scared Tetora shitless.

“Dad! You scared me.”

“Sorry for popping in before you could answer. The door’s ajar, so I wasn’t sure if you were in here.”

“It’s whatever. I didn’t hear you come home’s all.”

“I can scream next time I walk in the door if it’d make you feel better.” Kuro opened the door the rest of the way, revealing that he was holding a bag in his hand. “You hungry? Got some lunch.”

Tetora beamed and followed Kuro into the living room. Tetora wasn’t ravenous or anything, but it didn’t stop him from shoveling Korean barbecue in his mouth like there was no tomorrow. Kuro did it first, and he's not going to pick now of all times to stop blindly copying his father.

“Did I leave you here alone for long?” Kuro asked after putting away enough food to lick some sauce off his hands and take a break for air.

“Just like, half an hour, maybe,” Tetora said before swallowing his mouthful of food. “You came home right when I was gonna make myself some lunch so I didn’t even have the time to take advantage of bein’ alone.”

“You weren’t really gonna cook, were you? The rules ain’t any different in this house. You can’t cook without supervision.”

“Uhh,” Tetora stammered and looked up at the corner of the ceiling. “I was gonna… uhh… the microwave? Use that?”

“No cooking when you’re home alone.” Tetora jumped when Kuro poked his collarbone.

Tetora swatted Kuro’s hand away. “I know, I know! I won’t get any more funny ideas.”

“Good. That’s just what I wanted to hear.” Kuro ruffled Tetora’s hair and Tetora shrieked before starting a full-on slap assault on his arm. 

“Stop touching me!”

“Oops. My hands’re dirty, huh?”

“I’m gonna go eat somewhere else if you keep puttin’ your saucy fingers on me!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kuro chuckled. He got up and opted to sit on one of the chairs right by the couch instead. He got back to eating without another word.

Tetora wiped his face and leaned back on the couch, eyes affixed to the ceiling. “This is the first time we’ve been alone since we moved, right?”

“At home, yeah.”

“It’s been awhile…”

“How you been feeling about this whole thing? Hope it hasn’t been too tough for you to adjust to.”

“It’s weird living with other people… Maybe I got all spoiled or somethin’, but it’s just annoying. It’s really, really annoying.”

“Here I thought things were lookin’ up since you haven’t gotten in any fights with each other this week." Kuro wiped his face. "Sorry, but your father and your brother are part of our lives indefinitely. You gotta warm up to them eventually.”

“It’s not like I hate them! I really don’t, but… I miss being together, just me and you.”

“We’ve got right now. You wanna do some practice?”

Tetora’s head perked up. “Practice?”

“Karate practice.”

“Of course I do!” Tetora scrambled to his feet. “I wanna practice more than anything!”

Kuro stood up from his chair. “Let me clean up from our meal and we can get started.”

“You just wanna clean up the food ‘nd our mess? Aren’t we ‘sposed to get changed and move all the furniture like we always do?”

“Well… There’s a lot more space here than we used to have, so I figure the odds of us breakin’ somethin’ ain’t too high. I gotta treat’cha while I got the chance.”

“Yes!” Tetora dove in front of Kuro and wrapped him in a hug. “I love you, dad!”

“I love you.” Kuro set a hand on Tetora’s back and Tetora retaliated with a few smacks in an instant.

“Go wash your hands!" Tetora shrieked.

Within a few minutes the food was put away and Tetora and Kuro were as clean as they had been before they ate. They eased into their fighting stances in the most spacious part of the living room they could find. Though it's only a portion of the whole space, it's at least the same size as their old living room was with the furniture shoved away.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Tetora said.

“We can start…” Kuro paused for dramatic effect. “Now!”

Tetora’s leg flew up for a kick to Kuro’s stomach as soon as the match started. Kuro anticipated it, somehow, and stepped far enough backwards to avoid it entirely.

“I keep tellin’ ya not to rely on gimmicks,” Kuro said.

“Who said that was a gimmick? I’m just so excited that I couldn’t wait to kick you!”

Kuro grinned. “Alright, then. Hit me with a kick and I’ll give you an advance on your allowance.”

“I’m gonna take you down to the floor!”

Tetora stayed on the offensive, chipping away at the defense Kuro was keeping up with a barrage of chops. Two more chops fell against his arms before Tetora moved for another kick, this time to the side. Kuro blocked the kick and forced Tetora to step back as he swung a counterattack his way.

It felt weird to see Kuro do even the basics of karate when he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans in place of their traditional get-up. It wasn’t just weird, but having a clear look at his arm muscles was more than a little intimidating.

Tetora was confident in his skills, however, knowing that everything Kuro knew had already been meticulously passed onto him. If he didn’t practice them he wouldn’t make any progress towards being more like his beloved father. Kuro hit Tetora’s defenses this time, and Tetora was impressed with himself after surviving several attacks in a row.

The battle went on with a steady back and forth between the opponents, a clear contrast to the way Kuro tended to lean more towards the defensive when they would practice in the past. Tetora wasn’t coy with the amount of kicks he tried to land. He still hadn’t managed to get any, though he himself had already got hit in the side with one. He used to whine about it constantly, but he was lucky Kuro pulled plenty of punches with him.

Kuro was knocked off his balance with one more strong punch to the arm which led him to knock Tetora off of his with a punch of his own. Tetora, wobbling where he stood, tried to use the opportunity to finally get a kick in on Kuro’s stomach even though he knew it would send him flying to the ground. Mid-kick, the sound of the front door opening caught both of them completely off-guard.

“We’re home!” Chiaki’s voice rang out through the house before he was even in the door.

Since Tetora had stopped in the middle of his move, his balance was so off he would go as far as to say he didn’t have any balance left at all. He knew falling was unavoidable, so he looked away from Kuro for the first time since they started and noticed something very, _very_ important.

They had gotten _very_ far away from the clear open space they deemed suitable for practice.

Kuro grabbed at Tetora desperately while he tried to look behind himself. By the time he caught hold of his shirt, Tetora already knocked his head on the table behind him and the only difference it made was Kuro came crashing down right after him. Tetora heard the end table getting knocked over and as soon as he could rub his head the sound of something shattering followed behind it.

“What was that?! Are you guys okay?” Chiaki shouted from the entry hall.

Kuro sucked air in through his teeth. “Fuck,” he exhaled.

Chiaki and Midori came out from the entryway and both of them widened their eyes. While Chiaki looked plenty surprised, Midori was somehow showing more emotion than he was. His face was so pale it looked devoid of color, every scrap of evidence that pointed to hues living there melted away, and his eyes were stretched wider than Tetora presumed was possible.

The most unexpected and unnerving display of distress, however, was the blood-curdling scream that came out of his mouth before he spoke.

“What have... What have you DONE?!” Midori screamed.

Tetora’s head throbbed as he looked at Kuro and hoped his father could convey the answer of what happened to him with just his eyes. He hardly had time to register the grim look on Kuro’s face before Midori ran over and Kuro rushed to stand back up.

“Why?! Why would you do this to me?!”

There were porcelain shards on the ground around the table. There were tons of multi-colored shards, and Midori dropped to his knees and reached out to them.

“Midori, don’t pick those up! You’ll hurt yourself!” Chiaki said as he joined the crowd around the table.

Midori whipped his head around to glare at his father. “What else am I supposed to do?!” He turned his head again and his eyes caught on Tetora’s, staring at him hard enough to bore a hole through his head. He pointed at him with the force of his entire arm. “You… You did this to me! This is all YOUR fault!”

“I didn’tー I’m sorry? I didn’t meanー”

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Midori lifted himself off the ground enough to launch himself at Tetora. Kuro jumped in and grabbed him from behind before he could get close enough to hit anybody. “Let go of me! LET ME GO!” Midori screamed as he thrashed his arms around.

“Midori, don’t do this. It was my fault your things broke, not his,” Kuro pleaded.

“I don’t care!”

“Midori, it’s okay! I can buy you a new set!” Chiaki pleaded alongside Kuro.

“I don’t want a new one! They were a family, and they… Now they’re dead! Nothing can change that now!”

“What if I glued the pieces back together?” Chiaki asked.

Midori screeched and thrashed his whole body from his arms to his legs. Kuro sighed and dragged him further away from Tetora. “Can you just grab his legs or something? He’s starting to slip outta my grip and I really don’t know what to do here.”

“Do you wanna go take a nap, buddy? Or maybe go back and take another ride in the car?” Chiaki carefully snatched both of Midori’s legs between his arms and suspended them in the air. He looked back at Tetora. “Oh! Tetora, could you get something out of the bags by the door? He was really excited about those earlier.”

Tetora nodded and ran over to the front door as fast as possible. He grabbed the biggest plush he could find, a round blue-ish purple octopus, and ran back.

“Look at that, it’s Octopoid! She’s so cute! Remember how happy you were that they finally got her in?”

Midori’s rage was quelled a tad. Instead, he just looked like he was about to cry when he reached for the plush Tetora was holding out to him. “Please don’t hurt her… Please, please, please…”

Tetora handed it over to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want any of that to happen.”

Midori held Octopoid tight. “This sucks… It makes me wish I had died instead of my innocent collectibles. I wanna take a nap…”

Kuro and Chiaki escorted Midori back to his bed.

Tetora felt terrible.

ー

Tetora sat on the couch wallowing in his own guilt. His fathers were in their bedroom, holding what Chiaki called an “emergency household meeting”, surely discussing his punishment for breaking Midori’s special little toys. He wanted to cut himself some slack and believe Kuro when he said, over and over, that it was his own fault before they moved to their bedroom, but Tetora should’ve known better in the first place. Their rules were in place specifically to keep something like this from happening. He knew that, Kuro knew that, but they did it anyway and now they're faced with the worst-case scenario.

Tetora’s head perked up when he heard the door to their bedroom open. Kuro walked out alone.

“I got your verdict,” Kuro said.

Tetora felt a drop of sweat quickly form and race down his face. “Is it bad…?”

Kuro nodded lightly. “Karate’s banned.”

“Banned?!” Tetora practically jumped over the back of the couch. “Karate is banned?!”

“Yeah. Karate ain’t allowed in the house no more.”

“No way… Isn’t that extreme? Won’t it be okay if we just follow the karate rules for the rest of forever?”

“I tried to steer it away from this, trust me, but we can’t do that. We needed a drastic solution for Midori’s drastic reaction.”

Tetora slumped over on the couch. “No way, this sucks…”

Kuro plopped down on the couch beside Tetora. “It’ll be alright. We can do some different hobby together. Do you wanna help me sew your brother a new toy?”

Tetora groaned with no proper response.

“…Do you want to help me think of what kinda thing I can make for him?”

Tetora groaned again, shaking his head this time.

“It’s not the end of the world.”

“It is. It’s the end of my entire life! It was just a little mistake, a bit’a spilled toys, but now we never get to practice karate ever, ever again.” Tetora crossed his arms. “I already feel like we’re outsiders in this house, and now we get punished for not doin’ stuff the way they say we gotta. We haven’t even been here for a month and my “brother” tried to kill me over it.”

“You really think it’s dumb?” Kuro copied Tetora’s pose and looked straight at him. “Maybe you need to consider how he feels about it. What if he broke something precious to you and then said you were stupid when you got all bent outta shape?”

“I don’t got anything that could upset me that bad if I lost it.”

“Not even your fat lil tiger guy?”

Tetora jumped in his seat. “Don’tー I don’t even keep him out or nothin’ anymore! He wouldn’t be able to break Tony on accident. He would have to have serious malicious intent and, like, rip his head off or somethin’!”

“That’s not the point. Tell me how that would make you feel."

Tetora groaned and pouted, sinking into his seat. Why was he always the one getting a lecture? If Tetora couldn’t be right, why couldn’t they both at least be wrong? It didn’t feel fair. None of it. As far as he was concerned, his step-brother was far from being an innocent angel in this situation. He shivered when he remembered the look Midori had on his face when he bum-rushed him, that terrifying, glossy glare with nothing behind it save for rage and a lust for revenge. He was allowed to stew in his silence, fear and injustice pooling in his stomach like he downed a bottle of it.

But how, he finally asked himself, would it make him feel? Would he attack his step-brother if he stole something precious from him? Would he sit there and do nothing? Would he cry?

He didn’t want to go through this. He could cry on his own side of the coin.

“He doesn’t…” Tetora bit his lip. “He’s got a lotta variety, but I haven’t seen any cats or nothin’ in his little collections. He doesn’t seem to dislike them, either, so…”

“A cat? That’s a good idea. Maybe I can make your tiger guy a friend he’s got somethin’ in common with.”

“Will you stop bringing him up? I’m a man now, so I’m too old for some dumb fat tiger. It’s seriously embarrassing.”

Kuro smiled. “Whatever you say, bud.”

ー

Tetora was toweling his hair off after a bath. He walked out of the bathroom, swung by the kitchen to get himself a glass of milk, and walked to his room to go to bed. He collapsed onto his bed after using the last of his strength to deposit his milk on his bedside table. He was exhausted. He barely managed to finish his milk before he dozed off.

He was sure nothing could wake him up with how tired he was. The only thing that could wake him up would be, say, his step-brother trying to kill him in his sleep, a possibility he actually considered while he was in the bath. Though he concluded that there was no real benefit for Midori if he killed him, even if he was mad like he had never seen before. Paranoia couldn’t convince him that he wasn’t safe to sleep tonight, he thought.

So he _thought_ , but a shadowy figure still loomed above his bed in the middle of the night. He awoke abruptly to find he wasn’t getting any oxygen. He couldn’t see, which was understandable, it was probably dark in the room, but he also couldn’t _breathe_. He panicked and thrashed around before he even realized Midori was trying to smother him in his sleep. He pushed his step-brother off of him and took the biggest breath of his life.

“What the hell?!” Tetora exclaimed. “What are you doing?!”

Midori stood in front of him with the offending pillow for one moment. “You’re having a bad dream. Go back to bed,” he said before he crawled back in his own blankets.

“Go to bed?! Weren’t you trying to kill me just now?!”

No response came from Midori.

“All this over some toy?! I thought you were scared’a my dad and yet you’re gonna try ‘nd live with the consequences of _killing_ me!”

Tetora huffed and got out of his bed. He caught a glimpse at his clock before he left the room and walked down the hall. He had only been sleeping for an hour, so his dads were likely still awake. He gripped the indented handle to their door out of reflex, but he stopped himself before opening it. His dad never had an issue with him barging into his room when it was just his, but if Chiaki presents himself like _that_ in his everyday life, traumatizing superhero play and all, he shudders to think of what he could catch him doing in the privacy of his own bedroom.

With his _dad_ , no less. The show they did before was traumatizing enough. He didn't need to see another one.

Tetora knocked on the door.

Chiaki opened the door and peeked his head out the side. He was wearing his glasses. “Tetora? I thought you went to bed. What’s the matter?”

“I was sleepin’ and your son tried to smother me. Can I sleep in here?”

“Are you sure he did that?! That’s attempted murder!”

“Why would I lie about that?!”

Chiaki’s face was blank like he was trying to think of a reason he would lie about it. “That’s a good point. Your father’s already asleep, but I’ll go grab the spare futon out of my closet.”

Tetora stood at the doorway. Last resort or not, he did not want to do this.

Chiaki dropped the futon on the floor and looked at Tetora. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“It couldn’t be… but maybe it is?” Chiaki grinned. “Could it be you wanted to sleep in the bed with your dear old dads?!”

“No way! I’m a man, I’m not gonna get in bed with you and my dad!”

“Okay… Let me know if you need any more blankets down there, then!”

Chiaki crawled back under his covers and picked up a book he was in the middle of reading. Tetora settled into his futon with his back facing his fathers, but as soon as he laid his head down he could tell he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. He waited for a few minutes before he started to shuffle around restlessly.

“Tetora, are you okay down there?” Chiaki said in a sad excuse of a whisper.

“I’m fine,” Tetora replied. “Why aren’t you going to bed?”

“Oh, am I keeping you awake? Is it the sounds of the pages turning, or could it be the light bothering you?”

“…I’m just wondering how you could stay up when someone’s sleeping next to you.”

“I just feel more relaxed when I get to have some time with myself and a nice book. It’s kind of an old habit. I picked it back up fairly recently.”

“Do you sleep better that way?”

Chiaki stopped to think. “...I don’t know, but I like it.”

“I was kind of hoping it would help… I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep again tonight after what happened.”

Chiaki looked at Tetora, looked away and looked back to him again. He closed his book and set it down along with his glasses. “If everybody’s dressed for bed, but nobody’s sleeping… That sounds like a slumber party.”

“My dad is sleeping right beside you.”

Chiaki grinned and hopped out of bed, bringing his pillow with him to sit down at the other end of the futon. “He doesn't have to know about it. How often is it just you and me?”

“I don’tー”

“I’m so excited!”

Tetora shushed Chiaki. “The sleepover’s gonna be over if you wake dad up and make him mad!”

“Would he really get mad at me for that?” Chiaki managed to whisper.

“He's _always_ grumpy when I wake him up. I don’t feel like finding out how this would make him feel.”

Chiaki set his hand on Tetora’s shoulder. “We’ll be quiet, then.”

Chiaki stuck with Tetora through his sleeplessness whether he wanted him to or not. Which is to say, he didn’t want him to. They talked for a while with it being mostly one-sided and completely awkward.

“I’m sorry for what Midori did. I’ve never seen him do anything like that before,” Chiaki finally said. “Well… I mean, I guess the parts I saw weren’t completely unbelievable, but… I can guarantee you he hasn’t tried to kill anybody before, even if he threatens me often.”

Tetora’s expression deflated. “I’m honored to be the first.”

“That’s the spirit. There’s got to be some good to it.”

“I guess… But the weird thing is, I could kind of tell his violent side was there. You must not’ve had him for very long if you’ve never seen it.”

His statement caught Chiaki off guard. “What do you mean?”

Tetora jumped back. “I’m sorry, I… I assumed he was adopted like me.”

“Well, I did adopt Midori. I’ve been his father since he was a baby, though.”

“Oh. So, adopted, but still not like me. I wouldnt’ve thought of that.” Tetora looked away. “But he knows, right?”

“I managed to keep it from him until he forced it out of me as a teenager, but he knows now.”

Tetora stared at Chiaki with a blank look. “Your family names are different… I don’t know how you could pull that off.”

“You’d be surprised how little the discrepancy comes up.”

“I guess that makes sense. I don’t think I’d be able to tell you weren’t related if I’d been introduced to you guys as father and son.”

“I’m happy to hear that! Really, I’m touched!”

Tetora shushed Chiaki again and laid down onto his back.

“Are you going to try sleeping again?”

Tetora closed his eyes and nodded.

“Can I talk to you about one last thing before you go off to dreamland?”

Tetora opened one of his eyes back up.

“...I’m sorry we had to ban karate. It wasn’t your fault, but…”

“I don’t wanna talk about it. It’s not the end of the world.”

Chiaki smiled and reached to ruffle Tetora’s hair. Tetora smacked him until he ran back to his own bed.


	8. Chapter 8

Three days after he had murder attempted on him, Tetora was walking home from school with Midori. They still weren’t on speaking terms. Midori wouldn’t even _look_ in Tetora’s direction. It was awkward, but awkward was an understatement. It felt like the same road they’d always walked on was replaced with nothing more than pins and needles, special pins and needles that went right through Tetora’s shoes and flew up further than his head when he put his foot down at the wrong angle. He felt a large weight come off his shoulders when they turned onto their street.

Inside, Tetora set his bag down at the door and slipped off his shoes. His foot didn’t even make it back to the ground before Midori was right outside their bedroom door.

“Hey,” Kuro’s voice came out from somewhere Tetora couldn’t see yet. “You mind waitin’ up, buddy?”

“No, I don’t wanna. I wanna be alone in my room right now,” Midori replied.

“It’ll only take a minute," Kuro insisted. "I got somethin’ important I wanna show you.”

“Just tell me what it is…”

“I can’t ruin the surprise. I promise it’ll be worth a few minutes of your time.”

“One minute suddenly turned into a few…” Midori sighed. “Just show me what this is all about.”

Kuro guided his step-son over to the couch and Tetora went to stand a safe distance behind it. Kuro pulled a big box with a patterned ribbon on the top out of what seemed to be nowhere.

Midori was surprised. “A present… Is this for me?”

“It’s all yours. I still feel terrible ‘bout what happened the other day, so consider it an apology from me ‘n your brother.”

“Thanks for the thought, but I doubt you could fit something in here that could fix my eternal suffering…” Midori carefully unfurled the ribbon as he spoke. He opened the box and let out a soft but sharp gasp before lifting a stylized plush bigger than his head out of the box. “Who is this? I’ve never seen it before. It’s… cute.”

“Who…? I dunno, I didn’t think of a name or anything like that while I was making it. I kinda intended it to be like a leopard but I ended up bastardizing it a good bit to fit the bill.”

Midori turned to Kuro fast enough to give somebody whiplash. He was smiling wide with his mouth agape, an expression where stars wouldn’t look out of place in his eyes. “You mean you made this?! This whole thing was custom made for me?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t just leave things the way they were.”

“This is amazing… It’s incredible!” Midori held the plush high above his head. “I can’t believe you just _made_ this! To think I’m so close with someone so talented… To think you’re my father…!”

“You’re really butterin’ me up, but I couldn’t’a done it without your brother. I did the complicated stuff but he helped a ton. He was the one who drew up the design ‘nd I didn’t stray that far from it.”

“You mean there’s a drawing?!”

“Oh, yeah. Think I still got it in my pocket.”

“May I see it?”

Kuro dug around in his back pocket and handed a gently folded piece of paper to Midori. “If it makes you happy then it’s all yours.”

He unfolded the paper with care but with just as much haste. “This is incredible… I can’t even tell this is supposed to be a leopard!” Midori gasped. “Is that a bunny tail?!”

“I’m standin’ right here,” Tetora interrupted with a pout. “...I worked my hardest to make it look cute, ‘nd then you go and say you can’t tell what it’s ‘sposed to be…”

Midori looked straight through Tetora and sent chills down his spine. Midori jumped on the couch and vaulted over the back, advancing towards Tetora with a completely unreadable expression.

Tetora held up his arms in front of him. “Woah, I’m sorry, don’tー”

Midori wrapped his arms around Tetora and squeezed him tight. “Thank you so much… Thank you! It’s amazing! You’re a modern genius!”

Tetora, with his arms trapped between him and Midori, looked at Kuro with his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

Kuro gave him a thumbs up.

Tetora shook his head. His face was pink as a peach.

Kuro shifted his eyebrows, confused, and picked up Midori’s plush and raised its paw as if it was giving him a thumbs up as well.

ー

Midori’s opinion of Tetora and Kuro shot up dramatically over the rest of the week. While he made a grander show of thanking Tetora, it was obvious to everyone in no time that Kuro gained far more favor for making their plush. Tetora was perfectly fine with giving all the credit to his father. He was already friends with Midori, so all he really wanted was his forgiveness. Kuro on the other hand hadn’t managed to win Midori over the whole time he was with Chiaki, even though he’d been given so much longer to warm up to him than Tetora had with Chiaki. It was a little weird having Midori tag along every time Tetora went to hang out with his dad for weeks, but Tetora understood why Kuro wouldn’t turn him down. His brain understood it well, but he still found his step-brother being so insistent on something for once a little bit annoying.

Tetora was in the middle of drawing a picture for him after caving in to his demands. His step-brother was sitting across from him at his own desk with Tetora doing the oh-so-cool backwards chair sit at someone else’s desk.

“I’m glad you like my stuff, but I’m gonna have to go on hiatus for awhile after this, okay? It actually takes a lot of brain power to come up with these things,” Tetora said.

“Oh… I hadn’t thought of it before, but, of course it would be tiring to make masterpieces like this,” Midori replied.

Tetora straightened his mouth. “I still feel like you’re messin’ with me. It’s so hard to believe you like these weird scribbles that much even after I’ve already done like, six for you.”

“Don’t call them scribbles. They’re amazing artifacts that transcend all value… I wanna look at them all day.”

“I realized that when you framed them and hung them up in our room.”

“I really, really like them.”

When it was time to go home, Tetora and Midori walked back with each other. Midori still looked satisfied. It wasn’t like his step-brother was the biggest sad sack in the world every single day, but he had never seen him look content for so many consecutive days before.

It was kind of weird. Good for both of them. Still weird.

“School's finally out for the weekend, so what’d’ya wanna do for it?” Tetora asked.

“Dad said he’d teach me a new stitch today,” Midori replied. "I've been learning from him lately, you know."

Tetora, puzzled, looked over to his step-brother’s face. “I thought your dad was out of town. And, anyways, since when did he sew?"

“Not Chiaki…" Midori side-eyed Tetora as if he was repeating to him the simplest, most well-known fact in the world. "Our cooler dad. Dad.”

“Uhh,” Tetora started but was unable to finish the thought. He looked around the street, eyes wide, but his eyes couldn’t focus on anything. “So you’re uhh… hoppin’ off to first name basis with your dad.”

“Yeah. Stop calling him _my_ dad, though… I don’t wanna be associated with him anymore. Not now that I have my new dad.”

Tetora wanted to argue with him, he wanted so bad to tell him it felt uncomfortable for him to drop his own dad for the sake of Tetora’s, but he dropped the ball of conversation onto the asphalt of the road and watched it roll into a dark alley. It was less attainable than a baseball getting hit inside the fence of the cursed house down the street in old TV shows. He’d never felt so stiff and uncomfortable.

He was sure, at this point, that it couldn’t get any worse, until they walked through the front door of their house together and his step-father, who wasn’t supposed to be home from his trip for another day, was standing just outside the genkan.

“Hey you two, my special little guys!" Chiaki greeted with a raised voice. "Surprise, I’m back!”

“What do you want?” Midori asked without stopping to acknowledge him otherwise.

“Oh, nothing, nothing really,” Chiaki stammered while he scratched the back of his neck. “I was just really excited to see you guys! I missed you both, you know. I figured we could hang out! Are either of you hungry, bored, or…?”

Midori sighed. “Not in the mood, Chiaki…”

Chiaki’s eyes shot open wide, though they were emptied of any clues regarding emotion. His mouth opened slightly but the rest of his body stood still as a statue. Tetora looked him in the eyes for just a second and looked away. The sight he saw burned his eyes. He couldn’t bear to witness his crushed soul even a second longer. Midori, perpetrator of the crime, was unfazed when he walked to their room and closed the door behind him.

“Uhh…” Tetora choked out. “Welcome back.”

Chiaki faced away from him. “Thank you, Tetora.”

After dinner, Tetora watched his father and his step-brother settle down on the floor with their legs crossed and fabrics in hand. He sat on the couch above them, watching the television without paying them much mind. His step-father, the only missing family member, strolled over after he was all done with his bath.

“What are you guys up to? Something fun?” Chiaki asked.

Kuro looked up at his husband with a smile. “I’m teaching him a new stitch. He’s been learnin’ real fast.”

“Ohh, is that so?!”

“Dad’s just really good at this. He makes it easy,” Midori said with a pout.

Chiaki’s face scrunched up miserably when the word “dad” came out of Midori’s mouth but once it was gone he pretended it hadn’t happened. “...Oh, yes, yes of course he is! I know firsthand just how talented he is.” His eyes wandered over to Tetora sitting alone on the couch. “Tetora, you must feel pretty left out with them bonding right in front of you! Would it make you feel better if we hung out, too?!”

Tetora creased his lips and his eyebrows came down with it. It was obvious and so, so embarrassing that his step-father was projecting onto him aloud. “Yeah, uhh… I’m kinda doing... _this_ ,” he said with a motion to the TV with the remote in his hand. He felt bad for him but not enough to interfere.

“Cool, cool, that’s cool! You go ahead and keep on with that, and I’ll…” Chiaki pointed to his bedroom with both hands. “Yeah! I’ll leave you to it. Unless… you want to watch it with me?”

“Nobody wants you here… You’re so annoying,” Midori interrupted.

“Midori. Don’t talk to your father that way,” Kuro snipped. He received a roll of Midori’s eyes in response. "Hey. Don't you give me that look either."

Tetora kept his eyes wide and focused on the TV in front of him. It was, in this tense moment, absolutely crucial that he didn’t make eye contact with his step-father. If he did, everything would be over.

“So, I’ll just go!” Chiaki spit out with a forced laugh.

Tetora’s eyes shot over to him just to see a man dead behind the white of his eyes. They were white like a sheet, white like an egg, an egg that’s about to crack, a clean crack that Tetora knows very well. “It’s fine! You can come watch TV with me,” he blurted out. “It’s fine, I want you here!”

His step-father smiled and sat there with him the whole time the others were playing with their fabrics. Midori excused himself to go to sleep not long after deciding he had it down pat.

“It’s so weird how he sleeps early even when we don’t got school tomorrow,” Tetora said.

“That’s a good habit. I can respect him for it,” Kuro replied.

“A rested youth is a growing youth, after all! Haven’t you noticed how tall he is? It can’t be due to anything other than my insistence to him since childhood that he get a good meal and a long sleep,” Chiaki proudly stated. “I’m glad I was able to have _some_ positive influence on him.”

Kuro leaned back on his hands to look behind him at his husband. “Are you okay?”

Chiaki rested his face against his hand. “Eventually, I’ll be fine. It’s nothing we haven’t been through before.”

“I’m sorry,” Tetora replied. “I kinda feel like this is my fault.”

“No, it isn’t. You don’t need to worry about it! I promise I’ll be fine.” Chiaki stood up. “I think I’m going to excuse myself as well. You guys should have some quality time together!”

“You don’t need to leave,” Kuro urged.

“And yet I’m going to!” Chiaki leaned down to kiss Kuro on the forehead. “You can come back for me whenever you want to, okay?”

“I will. I love you,” Kuro replied as Chiaki walked away.

“I love you more!” Chiaki shouted before slamming the door shut behind him.

Kuro clicked his tongue. His face relaxed when he looked back at his son. “Alright, your father’s gone too. Just me ‘nd you, bud.”

“I was a little scared he wasn’t gonna leave…” Tetora smiled. “But since everybody else is gone that leaves me to enjoy the cool, exclusive late night dad time all by myself!”

“You’re always tellin’ me it’s the best part of your week.”

Tetora giggled. “It _is_ the best part of the week!”

Kuro smiled at Tetora. “You seem especially excited today.”

“Duh. Midori’s been with us all’a this week, all’a last week, etcetera etcetera…”

“I know. It’s been nice, hasn’t it?”

“...Yeah. You could say that. I don’t think I can complain since it was a lot worse before. I guess I dunno know you feel about it, though.”

Kuro flipped the tab on his can of tea. “Well, it makes me feel more welcome in the home when we’re all on good terms. Kind of a nostalgic feeling, really, being with Midori. One thing I can say for sure now though…” Kuro leaned his head back on the couch cushions and closed his eyes. “Your brother's love is expensive.”

“It does seem like he wrings Chiaki for all the money he’s got.” Tetora put his hand to his chin. “But does that make me cheap by association?”

“Hey… Don’t make me answer a question like that.”

"And what did you mean by that "nostalgic feeling" thing?"

"Mm… Not important."

Tetora and his father hung out until midnight watching television, talking, and most importantly, eating snacks. Chiaki only showed up again for a few moments to rifle through the kitchen before he disappeared again. Kuro mostly tore his way through the snacks while Tetora was more focused on their beverages, so it wasn’t long after midnight that his bladder forced him to stop drinking tea and get up. He walked to the bathroom to find the door was closed when it was usually left ajar.

Occupied. That wasn’t good. Tetora knocked on the door and received no response.

“Is somebody in there? I seriously gotta go,” Tetora pleaded.

Tetora tried to open the door to find something was jamming it shut from the inside. While there still wasn’t a response his ears made out a weird sound coming from inside the bathroom. He knocked again in rapid succession.

“Hello? Why do I hear chewing?!” Tetora exclaimed in confusion.

“What's wrong over there?" Kuro butted in.

"The bathroom's jammed and I hear chewing!"

"Damn it! Not again.” Kuro rushed to get up from the floor. He ran to stand behind Tetora and knocked on the door himself. “Babe, open the door.”

“What? What’s happening?” Tetora asked.

“We _talked_ about this. Open the damn door and come out,” Kuro said.

The door unlocked and opened. Chiaki stood in the doorway with a bowl filled to about a third with cereal, not successfully at all, hidden at his side.

“Hello my precious family! What brings you to the bathroom at midnight?” Chiaki said with a cheap, practiced smile plastered on his face.

“Cereal?!” Tetora asked, again.

“Ohh, you’re having cereal too?!”

“Cut the shit. What’s going on in there?” Kuro spit out, raising his voice.

Chiaki jumped at the unexpected vitriol in Kuro’s sharp response. “I’m using the bathroom?”

“You literally just admittedー” Kuro stopped, grabbed at his temples and squeezed. “What the fuck are you eating secret midnight cereal in the bathroom for?”

“I was... hungry.”

“So you had t’ go to the goddamn bathroom to eat?”

"It just tastes better in the tub!"

Kuro glared daggers at him.

“Okay. Okay, I’m sorry,” Chiaki conceded. “We've talked about this. I know we did. I know I broke my promise to you, I feel horrible, but... I really needed this right now. Please don't be mad. I’m under a lot of stress. I just can’t handle it by myself.”

"You feel horrible? Is that 'cuz you did it or just 'cuz you got caught?" Kuro questioned. “If you can’t handle it yourself, then why’s this the first I heard of a problem? You’d rather jump into binge-eating than talk to me like a fuckin’ adult? What else am I here for?!”

“I didn’t want to say anything! If I try to involve you in it it’s just going to upset you because it’s a selfish, selfish problem that I don’t want you to worry about.”

“Seems like you acted all strong for no reason, ‘cuz I’m upset anyway. Despite what you might think I’m not too stupid to put this together.” Kuro squeezed past Tetora to get through the doorway. “Where are you hiding the rest of it?”

“Dad! Don’t go in there too, can’t both of you get out instead?! I’m too old to go in my pants!” Tetora shrieked.

Kuro looked to Tetora, then back to Chiaki, and sighed heavily. “Yeah, alright. I need to come back right after you’re done, though.”

Tetora did his business and washed his hands. His parents argued with each other just outside the door just barely quiet enough for him to not understand them. He glanced nervously at the bottle of milk sitting at the edge of the bathtub. He came back out and informed Kuro he could come in, and after combing through the bathroom for a few minutes Kuro came back out with a whole box and two small bags of cereal.

“Thanks bud. I think I gotta call our hangout session now and get you in bed.”

“Okay… Can you tell me why there’s cereal in our bathroom?”

“It’s a little complicated. Well, it’s kind of simple too. Dunno if I wanna drop the bomb on you right before bed, though.”

“A bomb?!”

“Oops. Guess I have to now.” Kuro sighed and put the cereal away in their cabinet homes. “Your father’s binge-eating ‘cuz he’s upset about something. It's some dumb, old habit of his. What exactly's got him all twisted up... I’d love to know myself. I haven’t been able to crack him for all the details. An informed guess’d probably tell me what it is just fine, considering what happened earlier, but he’s so intent on keeping it from me anyway. It’s pissing me off.”

“Binge-eating…” Tetora brought his hand to his mouth. “That’s really got my brain goin’. It’s weird that him and Midori are so similar, like, they’re exactly the same even though they aren’t related and don’t get along.”

Kuro slumped his shoulders. “C’mon, don’t say it like that.”

“What am I ‘sposed to say it like?”

“You're making it sound like a bad and incomprehensible thing. You’re just like me but it’d be rude if someone started marvelin' about how you’re adopted, right?”

“Well I love you and I tell you that every day, so it’s different! Midori’s just turning into his dad on accident. Against his will, even.”

“Is this really the only thing you have to talk about after his little stunt? Might I remind you he just about made you piss yourself?”

Tetora paused and looked at Kuro. “Why was he eating cereal of all things? That makes sneaking around a pain for no reason.”

Kuro shrugged. “The guy loves cereal. This is a cereal problem.”

“…I understand even less with every question I ask. I think I’m just gonna go to bed now.”

ー

The next morning, Tetora woke up early to a growl coming from his stomach. Unable to wait for his father to get up and start Saturday breakfast like he always does, he ate a bowl of cereal by himself. Eating it made him feel weird. It didn’t help that his step-father came out from the bathroom before he was done.

“Tetora!” Chiaki exclaimed, his voice a tad groggy. “Good morning.”

“Good morning…” Tetora put his spoon down and rubbed his eyes. “You were doing like, normal stuff in the bathroom, right?”

“Yes, I promise I was using it like a human being. In fact, I wanted to apologize for what happened last night. Your father ended up laying it into me pretty hard. I broke a promise I made to him so it was for good reason and all, but… You didn’t need to see that.”

“...It’s fine. I'm just a little confused.”

Tetora would be lying if he said it never scared him when Kuro starts swearing in a sharp, raised voice. It doesn’t happen often and especially not towards him, so he doesn’t know how to react to the change in tone. He wouldn’t even have to change tones to cause a shift in mood; he tends to avoid using strong words around Tetora to begin with.

The most upsetting part, at least to Tetora, was the object to which Kuro put aggression upon. Tetora can't even bear to look at him.

“I had to fetch him from sleeping on the couch in the middle of the night, so… I figure he’s still mad at me," Chiaki said. "Maybe he won’t be when he wakes up, though. I hope not.”

He thought he was supposed to love Chiaki. Why would two adults who love each other fight like children? Why would it be over something so stupid?

“Tetora?”

_Does_ he love Chiaki? Why would they force their children to get along with each other if they couldn’t do it first?

“I’m gonna go. I'll be out on a run.”

“Okay.”

Chiaki walked out of the front door, and Tetora all but plopped down into his bowl.

ー

The next weekend rolled up before Tetora knew it. Since their grade had a big test coming up, him and his step-brother were studying in their room. Midori laid on his bed while Tetora sat at their shared desk. They shared it by technicality, but it was more like Tetora's step-brother forfeiting something he hardly used to him. Midori got up from his bed and took the eraser Tetora had set by his arm.

"Hey, I was _using_ that," Tetora said, laced with vitriol.

"Don't be greedy… I need to erase stuff too," Midori replied. "Your pencil's still got some eraser at its end but mine doesn't."

"Whatever. You can have it, I guess. Take whatever you want. Not like anything matters."

"Yeah… You're just in one of your moods again."

"I do _not_ wanna hear you of all people say that." Midori shrugged and Tetora rolled his eyes at him. "Like, what? This doesn't bother you or somethin'?"

"I'm supposed to be bothered by something…?"

"Come on, you know what I mean…" Tetora motioned over at the door to their bedroom with his shoulder. "They've been fighting over _whatever_ all week. I'm sick of it."

"Oh, yeah. Parents fighting… I guess it sucks. Chiaki has never been in a relationship long enough for it to happen before, so it's new."

"I never even knew my dad _had_ relationships."

"Right… Does it really bother you that much that they're fighting?"

"Yeah. 'Course it does. My dad wants to be alone 'cuz he's all temperamental, and then your dad's tryna be my friend again because you're temperamental… Nobody wants to be around nobody even though we're _'sposed_ to be family." Tetora pushed his foot against the desk, forcing his chair to balance on its two back feet. "It's just dumb. How did one mega dumb fight turn into so many? They suddenly can't get along with each other just because of…" He paused in speech and motion. "Why does it feel like we're the center of this? Are they tryna make this our fault?"

"What? You mean like they would get along if we weren't here…?" Midori let out an aggressive sigh. "That's no fair… That makes me wanna die…"

"For once, I know where you're comin' from. Not like I'd reallyー"

A knock came from their door even though they should still be the only ones home.

Tetora let his chair go back to using all its legs. "Come in if you aren't a serial killer!"

"What the hell, a serial killer is what I _want_ … Don't come in if you aren't a serial killer!"

The door slid open to reveal Kuro with a confused twist to his face. "You guys're talkin' about serial killers in here?"

"Hey Dad," Tetora and Midori said in unison, to varying degrees of low enthusiasm.

"Woah. Lively bunch in here today," Kuro observed.

Tetora checked the time on his phone. "You're home early today, huh?"

"Mm, yeah. I got bad news and some sudden plans. This rich guy me 'n your father knew died a few days ago so we gotta go to his funeral on Friday."

"That sounds like… a really rushed funeral," Midori observed.

"I know. He was a sickly guy and our mutual friend's a little messed up in the head, so his funeral's kinda been planned for a good chunk'a time by now." Kuro leaned against the door's frame and crossed his arms. "Wish he'd be more considerate to the guests, though."

"So is it like, close by?" Tetora asked.

"…No, it's actually pretty far away. We're leaving tomorrow evening, we'll be there all day Friday… We should be back on Saturday. You guys gonna be okay having the house to yourselves?"

Tetora smiled and it felt like the first one he's had all day. "Of course we can handle it! We're men!"

Kuro smiled, too. "I knew you two could handle it. I'm gonna cook up some extra food now so you guys won't have to worry about it later," he said as he walked out the door. "Y'know, I think I'll make some quiche."

Tetora looked over to his step-brother and stopped smiling. "Uh, sucks that dude died."

Midori scribbled on his paper without looking up. "Still wish it was my funeral…"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for your patience and for clicking on this after i went awhile with no updates!!!!
> 
> patch notes:  
> \- fixed a few glaring and embarrassing mistakes  
> \- made my beta promise to be stricter with me
> 
> enjoy!!!

On their way to school, it all started to sink in.

"We're gonna have the whole house to ourselves… No dumb bickering dads'll be there to tell us what to do!" Tetora said, and he could acknowledge it being a little too loud for the time of day.

"I just woke up," Midori sighed. "Stop repeating the same thing over and over…"

"I'm just _beyond_ excited!" Tetora turned to his step-brother. "Hey, you think our friends'll wanna come over and hang out? We can play games, eat food, watch movies we ain't 'sposed to… make a big mess, shout as loud as our lungs'll let us…"

"I don't wanna be involved in something that troublesome," Midori affirmed.

"Really?" Tetora made a drawn out sound of thought. "Well, I'm gonna ask 'em."

He ran about, doing as he said and asked _everybody_ ; Tomoya, Hajime, Hinata, and… he thought he had more friends than that. Oh well. The survey was unanimous. Everybody was going to come over after school on Friday, the day his fathers would be gone all day.

He couldn't think of a better remedy to the awful week he'd had than a healthy dosage of teenage rebellion. Being home alone and causing a ruckus with all his friends would let him release every bit of his built-up frustration without hurting anyone in the process. He was sick and tired of his life situation making him _hurt people_.

On Friday, the day of, the triumph he felt while he unlocked the front door to their nice house in front of all his friends couldn't be measured by one single modern tool.

"Welcome one, welcome all! Step into casa-del-Kiryu!"

Midori held a deadpan look. "This is _myー_ "

"Okay, the house in which I live! Everyone, step inside one at a time and be sure you're following the only rule _at all times_ ; the rule that there aren't any rules!"

"Hey, that means we don't actually have to come in one at a time! 'Scuse us!" Hinata shouted and squeezed into the doorway, dragging his reluctant brother behind him, that Hajime was already standing in.

"Hey, knock it off! You could've hurt Hajime like that. If you hurt him then I'd never forgive you!" Tomoya exclaimed.

Tetora rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't think we'd revert to cavemen this fast. Get inside the house first, guys!"

The first thing their large group did was obvious; they rifled through the fridge and started eating. Their next course of action was quarreling over what movie to watch while still in the middle of tearing into everything in the kitchen. Their group agreed, to his own despair, that Tomoya was responsible for the choice, and he picked something a group of sixteen year-olds definitely weren't supposed to be watching with surprising speed.

The movie flew right by. Tetora hadn't noticed how much time they'd spent watching it until they were done with most of the food they gathered up.

"Tomoya-kun, this movie's really cool. You sure know how to pick'em!" Tetora said.

"It's cooler than I expected if I’m being honest," Tomoya replied.

"Don't you think it's kind of violent though? Like, really violent," Yuta said.

"That's what makes it so cool! Just two strong dudes wailing on each other, and, like, blood!” Tetora exclaimed. “Well, actually, the excessive blood is kinda dumb so not that part."

"I think Tetsu-kun's going through graphic violence withdrawals!" Hinata pointed at him and shouted.

"I'm not going through those sorta withdrawals! What kinda messed up image do you have of me?" Tetora sunk into the couch and crossed his arms. “Might be having a withdrawal of manly men doing manly things though.”

"I thought karate was pretty manly. Don’t you do that every day?” Tomoya asked.

“No… I don’t.” Tetora sunk further. “Nobody ever shows up to practice at school and my parents banned any kinda karate happenin’ in the house.”

"Oh… That sucks," Tomoya said.

"Ah, yes… The dreaded karate ban. The ban keeping us from playing karate right now instead of watching this cliché movie," Hinata mused. He crossed his arms. "Too bad your parents said it's not allowed, even though they aren't even here to enforce their rules… Super bummer since you already told us there aren't any rules… It’s kind of like a lie at this point."

"Are you tryna plant bad ideas in my head? It don’t matter if they’re not here. Rules are rules and rules are there for a reason,” Tetora said. “I learned that the hard way.”

"I didn't think it was a _bad_ idea," Hinata stressed.

“I’m sorry for my brother being a bad influence as usual,” Yuta said.

Hinata spoke no words, but gasped and grabbed at his heart with one hand.

"Influence or not, karate is banned, so it's not happening on my watch," Midori said, sitting apart from everyone else and gripping one of his animal pillows for dear life. "I'll do what I have to… It's kill or be killed in this world of beasts…"

"Umm, I'm very sorry. I must have been absorbed in watching the movie. What are we talking about now?" Hajime asked. "I don't want anybody to die."

"Nobody will die as long as we don't break that one rule," Tomoya offered. "Right?"

"Everybody is always ganging up on me even though I don't do anything wrong!" Hinata pouted. "I don't want anyone to die either, in case anyone was wondering!"

"Then it's settled. We're all just gonna keep watchin' the movie," Tetora said.

"We're almost out of snacks and it's not even halfway over," Tomoya said to switch the topic.

"Oh," Tetora said. "Thenー"

Hinata grabbed onto Tetora's arm and cut him off. "Tetsu-kun and I will go refill our refreshments! Tetsu-kun because he knows his way around the house and me to make up for the ruckus I started. Don't even bother pausing it for our sake!"

Tetora was dragged into the kitchen with Hinata, who smiled as if nothing happened while he gathered bags of chips and popcorn.

"Umm," Tetora started. "What was that all about? I know you're kinda crazy but that wasn't like you."

He looked over at Tetora after a moment with his eyes hinting at a change of expression. "Sorry, Tetsu-kun. I just… I know, okay? I know things are getting weird for you again. I thought if I convinced you to play some karate with me, like if you got to have something that was taken from you it would make you feel better... but I guess I didn't know what you wanted after all."

"Whaー How'd you figure that out? You're surprisingly... perceptive.” Tetora squirmed where he stood. “You did that for me?"

"Of course. But you're getting too mature for me to keep up with! I didn't think you'd disagree with the idea."

"Well… I really can't agree with it. I appreciate the thought, I mean it, but I know something worse is gonna happen if I break that rule."

"Yeah… That is how it always works, huh?" Hinata closed his eyes and chuckled. "I got so attached to the thought of doing it together, though, I can't help but feel bummed out now. I thought… I thought I could please two people at the same time."

Tetora furrowed his brows. "What? What do you mean? You're, like, actually really interested in karate all of a sudden?"

"I told you already! I'm willing to get into all your karate business to put a smile on that cute little face. You didn't listen to me, did you?! You never do. Admit it!"

"Being willing to do something and excited to do something are two different things. I don't want anybody's pity. What's this _actually_ about?"

"Huh? You're getting smarter, too…" Hinata sighed. "You need to stop improving before you become perfect. I won't be able to resist you then…"

"Hinata-kun.” Tetora glared into his eyes. “Stop being weird and be honest with me instead."

"Okaay. Yuta-kun's maaad at me again." Hinata drooped over the kitchen counter. "I don't know what I did this time, but I've been cooped up in the annoying brother box. Again. I dragged him here because I thought we could play karate and look cool in front of him, but…" Hinata sniffled a pretend tear up. "You heard what he said about me! I'm a horri-bad influence in his bright little eyes."

"Oh… That sucks. I didn't know. I thought you two were doing better now?"

"It must be because we spend so much time together in class now. It's a double-edged sword! You're an older brother too now, so don't you understand my played out woes?"

Tetora blinked at the countertops. He leaned down to fold his arms on it too. "I… actually do. I think I do."

"You do?" Hinata clasped his hands together and pleaded. "So we'll have a karate party in the living room? For me? For you? For Yuta-kun? Everybody else?"

"See, problem with that is…" Tetora took a breath. "My brother wants the opposite of that. He's gonna be upset if I give you the OK so I don't think I can."

"You don't need to worry about him! I know him just as good as you do. The both of us know just how easy he is to manipulate."

"I don't _want_ to manipulate people."

Hinata waved himself off. "I'm sorry, manipulate is totally the wrong word! Just wait and see. He'll be happy."

Tetora sighed, but he smiled too. "Okay, I guess I'll see what you've got. But I'm gonna reserve the right to cancel the whole thing!"

"Yay!" Hinata jumped onto Tetora to hug him tight. "You won't regret this!"

"No, stop! I already do!" He shrieked. "Instantaneously!"

Tetora and Hinata finished what they started, came back to everyone else, and proposed their new plan.

"Oh lord," Yuta said. "Now he's recruited somebody else."

"No, absolutely not! Karate was banned for a reason," Midori, who was still begrudgingly sitting with the party squeaked in.

"Please? None'a your stuff's out here no more and we'll be super careful," Tetora pleaded.

"If you so much as speak of any more karate… I'm telling Dad in that same second," Midori said.

"Midori-kun, I'm begging you to let me and Tetsu-kun play!" Hinata looked back at his own brother and wrestled something off his phone case after a lot of physical protest from Yuta. "I'll give you this if you stay quiet!" Dangling from Hinata's hand was a large and squishy keychain of a beloved fried egg-based mascot character.

Midori let out a sharp gasp before he ran over and jumped down to his knees. "That's Palegg!"

"Uh huh, that's him alright…” Hinata looked smug before his face softened. “And he's all yours!"

"That's mine, you can't just give away my stuff!" Yuta shouted.

"Please?! Please can I have it?" Midori begged. "I won't stand in the way anymore if I can just have this…!"

Hinata dropped the keychain into Midori's offered palms. "I'll just buy Yuta-kun a new one. Easy peasy!"

"Okay, so... That's settled. Who else is in?" Tetora asked.

"I'm… confused," Hajime replied.

"Me too," Tomoya agreed. "What are we doing? And why are we doing it?"

"Oh. Umm," Tetora stammered.

"We're playing karate, bracket style! Like a tournament!" Hinata said.

"Yeah,” Tetora bounced back. “We're gonna face each other off in a fight of brawn!"

"Who is " _we_ "?" Tomoya asked.

"Uhh… Whoever wants to do it!" Tetora threw both his arms into the air. "Who's in for a karate tournament?!"

The crowd cheered with varying enthusiasm, but all members cheered nonetheless.

ー

"Gentlemen and boys, boys and gentlemen, the first official Aoi-Kiryu karate tournament is about to commence," Yuta announced while standing up on the couch they moved. "Our first order of business; the agreeing contestants will draw straws to be sorted into brackets! Once they're in the brackets they'll fight until only one of them still stands!"

Hajime clapped. "Yuta-kun, you're very good at doing that," he said.

"Aw, thank you. I like doing announcements," Yuta replied.

"Even though he thought my idea was dumb, my Yuta-kun enjoys it any _waaay_ ," Hinata teased.

"If we're going to do this, you're not going to do it without having me announce it! That's all!" Yuta replied.

Midori walked into the center of the ring, a crash mat he took from his father's closet, holding up a cup. "Okay, I cut them up… Pick them now. I don't wanna wait."

Tomoya walked up and picked his entry. "Oh. So we aren't actually drawing straws?" He asked upon receiving a broken chopstick.

"I don't want to offer my straws to be wasted," Midori said.

"But chopsticks are like, fine," Tomoya questioned further.

Midori looked him straight in the eyes. "Yes."

Every participant drew their partial chopstick. There were four of their party of six that signed up. The four contestants being Tetora, Hinata, Tomoya and Hajime. With the result of their draw, the first match was Tetora versus Tomoya after which Hinata versus Hajime would start.

"Okay everybody, familiar enough with the rules? I'm sure you aren't! This may get a little weird due to the fact that only one contestant is familiar with the fine art of _ka-ra-te_ , so that's why we're making it simple for you! First one to have their shoulders on the mat for three counts loses! Do whatever you want to get that to happen!" Yuta announced.

"No, you can't do _whatever_ you want," Tetora objected.

"Right right. Whatever you want, within reason!" Yuta amended.

"Whatever. I can live with it bein' kinda like wrestling instead, s'long as everyone can have fun and nobody gets hurt." Tetora settled into his stance and stared at Tomoya in front of him. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, just, uhh," Tomoya copied Tetora's stance. "Yes. Ready as I'll ever be."

Yuta blew on a whistle. No idea where that came from. "Gooooooo!"

The two contestants stared each other down with minimal movements for a whole minute. Tetora was waiting for his opponent to make the first move which turned out to be a sloppy chop at his shoulder. He blocked it and countered with the same, which, to everyone's surprise, was also blocked.

"Wow, our first battle starts to find neither opponent conceding an inch! The experienced Tetora-kun and his challenger that can rise to any challenge; could this be a match made in heaven?!"

Tetora stayed on the offensive leaving Tomoya with no breaks to collect himself. He performed well even without them. He blocked most of what came at him and what hit him didn't hit him hard. Tetora wasn't trying to hurt him or anything, of course. Gentle as he was, Tomoya actually shrieked when Tetora kicked his side.

"Ohh, how hard has Challenger Tomoya-kun been kicked here?!" Yuta announced.

Tomoya looked embarrassed. "I'm fine! I just wasn't expecting it, please ignore that!"

"And we're taking that one off the record! I announced nothing just now!"

After it seemed Tomoya was fully recovered and fighting as normal, Tetora swooped in to grapple him and hurled him down onto the mat. He tried to climb on top but Tomoya pushed him away and rolled to safety. He was back on his feet in a moment.

"That one looked bad, but Challenger Tomoya-kun is still in commission! Incredible!"

His opponent fought well for several more minutes before Tetora returned him to the floor to taste the bitter notes of defeat.

"Wow! Gentlemen, our first match is now decided. Our victor is…" Yuta jumped off the couch and raised up the winner's arm. "Tetora-kun!"

The audience clapped. Hinata even whistled.

"Hey, that was actually more fun than I thought it would be," Tomoya remarked.

"You get it now, don't you?! It's awesome," Tetora replied eagerly.

"Unfortunately we don't have time for the contestants to chat because the next round is starting right away!" Yuta announced after he jumped back on the couch. "Fighting in the red cornerー"

"The mat is blue. There aren't red corners?" Midori corrected.

"I know, but that's what they say on TV, so I thought… Don't question me! I'm busy." Yuta cleared his throat into his hand. "Fighting on one side is Challenger Hajime-kun! We're all quite concerned about him, Tomoya-kun, but this guy's hidden strength is a force to be reckoned with!" Yuta motioned to the other side. "On the other side of the ring, it's Aniki the Red Fox King! A wild animal that grew up on the river, possessing dodges so fast you can't even see him move and a fist that summons fire like magic, you don't even have to bother wondering why a beast like this became a legend for history books to come!"

Hinata triumphantly shook his own hand in the air.

"Why does Hinata have a detailed stage name and backstory?" Tomoya questioned.

"We've discussed what our professional wrestling personas would be in _detail_ , of course," Hinata answered.

"I thought you guys were going through something right now," Tetora said.

"Going through what?" Yuta asked. "Who said that?"

"I dunno! Blow the whistle and let's play karate!" Hinata shouted.

Tetora's eyes fell down to half-lids. He didn’t stop to consider this outcome. Should have; did not. 

A few people might have thought Hajime could be a dark horse in the tournament, but Hinata bested him within a minute. Hajime just couldn't keep up with his agile moves. It didn't seem like their difference in skill should've been that drastic but it was hard for anybody to tell with such a weird matchup.

With his loss Hajime is back in the audience, the same audience Tetora can't find his step-brother in anymore.

By the tried-and-true process of elimination Tetora is seconds away from battling Hinata. Staring into his eyes, the impatience settling in while he processed that look on his face and waited for the blow of the whistle, he started to feel nervous. What could be going on in that weird little head of his? Maybe Tetora should be scared.

Yuta started the match with a blow of his whistle. It started with a kick to the side from Tetora, but he had to block one coming to his own side right after. Both of them circled around each other. Tetora made a sideways chop and Hinata retaliated with the same thing. If he punched, Hinata blocked it and punched. If he kicked, Hinata blocked it and kicked. It got frustrating. Hinata had to be taunting him.

It was back and forth for another minute before he got to strike Hinata in the stomach. Hinata reeled forward like he was in pain before he looked up and smiled, an eerie show of teeth, and tackled Tetora to the ground. Tetora kicked him away and got back up. He knocked Hinata down himself right after and he _almost_ pinned him but Hinata cleared himself to safety with a backwards somersault. He got up. And then his whole demeanor changed.

He started a ruthless attack, so many strikes that Tetora couldn't keep up, leaving him defenseless when Hinata kicked his side. One more push threw him to the floor where Hinata sat right on top of him. It's a cold and calculated strategy that screams _Hinata has done this before_.

Tetora looked up into his eyes. Shock, confusion, fear; every emotion blowing up in his brain was made clear through his expression. It was all in display as he looked up at Hinata, but Hinata just smiled. He pushed his hands down on his shoulders, Yuta blew his whistle, and… the front door opened.

His parents just came home.

And they already don't sound happy.

"We're home," Kuro said with a rough drag to his tone.

"Boys? Are you here?" Chiaki asked.

They walked into the living room to witness Tetora laid flat on the floor. Everyone in the room, dumbfounded, froze in place.

Hinata jumped off Tetora and offered his hand to Kuro. "Wow, it's so nice to finally meet you! I'm Hinata, Tetsu-kun's bestest-estest friend, and we weren’t doing anything weird just now!"

Kuro frowned. He looked down at Tetora. "Tetsu."

"...Hey Dad."

"You wanna tell me what's happening here?"

"...Karate tournament."

Kuro opened his mouth and shut it back. The look of disappointment on his face was unmistakable. His silence hurt. Badly.

"Why are you guys here?" Tetora asked sheepishly for fear of the answer. "I thought the funeral was today."

"The funeral, well… Our friend; actually, our friend's friend and a ton of birds burst out of the casket and screamed "Eichi isn't really dead, you beautiful fools!"," Chiaki recounted. "So the whole thing got cancelled on account of there being no one to throw a funeral for."

"Just like all the other times we've tried to go to his funeral," Kuro huffed.

"Honey…" Chiaki had a huff of his own. "I know you're frustrated and on edge. I am too, so don't start this with me again. Don't you think we have something more important to worry about right now?"

"Yeah. I need to punish my kid for you so you don't have to be the bad guy over your own dumbass rule."

"Okay. Wow." Chiaki laughed and clasped his hands together. "Can everyone who doesn't live here please leave? Now."

All of Tetora's friends grabbed their stuff and walked out in silence, but Tetora stood on his feet and looked at the floor. "How much trouble am I in?" He asked.

"A lot," Kuro answered.

Tetora's heart sunk. It's true. It’s true and he knew it. Nothing good happens when rules are broken.

"Come on, Tetsu. How'd you get caught doing this when I told you and your brother we were on the way home?"

"What… When did you do that?!" Tetora asked.

"I texted you while we were in the car."

Tetora looked over at the table he left his phone on. It wasn't there anymore.

"Tetora, you did a good thing not covering this up," Chiaki butted in.

"Yeah, just like it was a good idea to go to a funeral everybody knew was fake," Kuro bit back.

"I asked you nicely not to start this again," Chiaki stressed.

"The fourth time," Kuro started again, "This is the fourth time this has happened. Do I have to say it again? This is the fourth time! Do you know how fuckin’ absurd that is?"

"I know!" Chiaki shouted. "I know that, you don't have toー"

In their eyes, Tetora vanished. Just like that. It didn't even matter what he did. Nothing matters more than one of them being right.

"I told you he wasn't dead! Bastard's faked his death and brought us to a fake funeral over and over again! I tried to tell youー"

They can blow up whenever they want while Tetora needs to shut up and follow what they say. No matter how stupid or contradictory it is.

"So we just don't show up at all? We're going to risk letting a dead man go unhonored just because he had a zest for life?" Chiaki shouted.

But he doesn't think he can take it any longer.

"A zest for…" Kuro clapped his hands on his face. "That's what you call that?!"

"SHUT UP!" Tetora shrieked.

Both his parents shut up and looked at him.

"This is the rest of my life now, isn't it? Listening to you guys argue back and forth? I'm SICK of it! Why is this happening? Why can't you get ALONG with each other?!" Tetora shouted.

"Tetsuー"

"No, I don't wanna hear it! I don't wanna hear either of you talk anymore 'cuz it don't mean a damn thing! Do you think of anything but yourselves? Do you think about me, do you think about Midori-kun? Our lives are just jokes to you, aren't they?! You can just…" Tetora balled up his fists. "You think you can just play with our lives however you want! You can pick us up like game pieces in your petty strategy game, you can force us to leave behind everything we used to know just so you can live with some guy you don't even get along with?! I thought... you loved him. I thought you loved _me_. I don't… I don't know what I'm even supposed to think anymore, I'm so damn angry! Why couldn't you be mature enough to think this through AT ALL? What's the point to ANY of this?!"

Kuro's face was twisted up in guilt. It hurt to look at.

What surprised Tetora, though, was the other feeling flaring in his chest.

That it pissed him off more than it hurt.

"Don't pretend you feel bad! You're just upset I said something about it, aren't you? I don't know what kind of man I thought you were, but obviously I was too stupid and too naive to realize I had it all wrong! If you're actually like this…" Tetora's body quaked with pangs of anger when he looked his father in the eyes. "I HATE YOU!" He shrieked.

Tetora stormed off to his room and slammed the door behind him. He was shaking. He felt terrible. He felt hurt, he felt guilty, he felt like a victim and a criminal. A murderer still walking through the streets, acquitted by trial through sacrificing the innocent in his place. He was a fraction of a second away from crying when he saw his brother laying in bed.

"Midori-kun?" He squeaked. "Where were you? Why… are you here? Why…"

Midori tensed up. "I'm sorry!”

Tetora’s eyes caught on Midori’s bedside table. “Isn’t that my phone…? You’re holding it...”

“I-I'm sorry, yes, I took your phone, I... I thought if it got cancelled you would take away my bribe. I didn't think it through so, please don't, umm…"

"I'm not mad," Tetora practically whispered. Tears drifted down his cheeks and dripped to the floor. "I shouldn't have done it. I was only thinking of myself. I'm so… selfish and stupid. I don't deserve an apology when I failed you, when I've failed you so many times, just because I'm…" Tetora shook his head. He brought his hands to his face and sobbed.


	10. Chapter 10

Tetora didn't talk to either of his fathers for the whole weekend. It really should have been harder for him to do, but it wasn't. He doesn't know how to feel about that.

He sat in his classroom and tried to absorb knowledge as usual. Through his eyes, through his ears, those normal functions that just seemed so alien to him at the moment. A small crumpled piece of paper hit against his shoulder. He looked to his left. Tomoya was looking at him, and likely threw the wad of paper at him. Tetora sighed, picked it up and unfurled it.

Blank. A blank piece of scrap paper. Tetora looked back at him with more scribbled on his face than the paper.

Tomoya ripped off another piece and started writing. He threw it after he was done and Tetora opened that up too.

_"Are you okay?"_ The paper read.

Tetora frowned at it and crumpled it back up, the question neither confirmed nor denied. Tomoya threw a third paper wad at him.

_"I'm sorry. Can I do anything to help? Can we talk later?"_ The third one read.

Tetora tilted his head to the side. He couldn't decide. He felt numb all over. He didn't want to subject anyone to this sad husk that claimed to be Tetora.

Tomoya was about to throw _another_ scrap of paper and jumped when their teacher turned to witness it.

"Mashiro. Are you going to stop littering the classroom with pieces of your notebook _now_ or do I have to speak to you after class?" Their teacher asked rhetorically.

Tomoya sank in his seat. He didn't try again.

Class ended and Tetora attempted to escape before Tomoya could catch him, but he didn't expect him to run.

"Tetora!" Tomoya shouted behind him.

Tetora turned. Tomoya looked miserable.

"So are you okay?!" Tomoya asked again. "Everyone was worried about you."

"I don't know what to say," Tetora admitted.

A bead of sweat formed on Tomoya's face while he made a confused sound. "And… What does that mean exactly?"

"I don't… know…" Tetora dragged his foot against the floor. "I don't feel okay, but I don't feel like I'm not okay. I just don't know. Sorry. You don't have to worry about me."

"I still feel like I ought to be worried, Tetora. That doesn’t give me any sort of sense of relief."

"I guess you can worry if you want." Tetora grabbed the frame of the door as he started walking again. "I'm going to go."

It's true. Tetora felt so weird, so hollow and empty that he didn't understand what he was supposed to be saying. He wanted to slip through without dealing with it. Maybe he would feel better in a few days.

Maybe he never would.

He walked to the end of the hallway, turned the corner and made his way to the stairs. He took a few steps before he stopped to look up at the top of the staircase.

Hinata turned towards him and his mouth fell open. Tetora looked around for a way out.

“Tetsu-kun!”

Hinata sprinted down the stairs which really wasn’t even a little bit safe.

“TETSU-KUN!”

Tetora frantically backed away as far as the bottom of the staircase before escape was proved futile by Hinata leaping onto his back.

“Tetsu-kun is alive! I was so worried, Tetsu-kun!”

“Hinata-kunー”

“I’m sorrryyy!! I’m so sorry for what I did!” Hinata leapt off of Tetora’s back and forcefully spun him around to face him. “You’re okay, aren’t you? I thought your fathers would kill you and you’d be dead forever and never come back to school and I’d live with this weight on my shoulders for all time with no outlet for relief!”

“I…” Tetora scrunched up his face. “What? Why would my fathers kill me?”

Hinata shook Tetora’s shoulders. “Don’t fathers normally kill you for being so bad?!”

“No they don’t?” Tetora grabbed Hinata’s wrists and tried to pry them off his shoulders but it didn’t work. “I guess my father situation has never been normal though. Maybe I just don’t know.”

Hinata just looked into his eyes and frowned.

“That might be why being alive feels so unnatural. Maybe they were supposed to kill me.”

“No, don’t say that! Tetsu-kun! I’m sorry that I said anything! I’m sorry that I ever, ever said anything in my life.”

Tetora stayed silent for a moment or two before he spoke again. He just looked into Hinata’s devastated eyes. “Why?”

Hinata squeezed Tetora’s shoulders. “I got you in so much trouble. It’s all my fault.” He finally let go, and his arms fell to his sides. “Aren’t you mad at me?”

“No. I fail to see how anything was your fault in the first place.”

“Why are you speaking so proper?! You have to be mad at me!”

“Would you feel better if I was mad? Would that relieve your conscience of the guilt you created by yourself?”

Hinata nodded.

Tetora offered a small smile. “Sorry. I can’t be mad and I can’t blame you since it was my fault. I was supposed to stop it but I didn’t, and I just feel… empty. So I can’t give you what you want either.”

“And I’m just supposed to accept that? I’m supposed to sit back and let you shoulder it all by yourself, huh?”

“I guess you can help, ‘cause right now I really don’t understand anything. I don’t know why I was in that situation at all. Didn’t you lie to me?”

“I did, and you got in trouble for it! That means that it’s _my_ fault!”

“No… I don't want to hear that. I just want to know why you lied. I want to know why it happened like that.”

Hinata shook where he stood before he opened his mouth. “Okay. I’ll explain to you how I planned it and why it’s my fault so you can blame me and feel better. Okay? I’ve been practicing, see, I’ve been practicing karate by myself after I let it stew long enough when you told me no one’s in your club. It stung to hear you were so lonely and I wanted to do something about it, but… I messed it up, didn’t I? My brain twisted it up and drifted me away from striving to stand on equal footing with you and I started wanting to achieve complete and total victory over you so I could see the look on your face when I surprised you that much! I needed that opportunity so I pushed you and I lied and I made you break the rules and I got you in trouble! Against your wishes I did all those things, and it was just to hurt you, wasn’t it? That’s what I did. That’s what I was working so hard to do. That’s why I’m so frustrated with myself. I was reckless and selfish and now… And now you’re not even going to let me face the consequences for it!”

Tetora watched Hinata heave. “I’m not.” He looked like he was about to cry. “I don’t care what happened or what you ended up doing. I think you were being really considerate of me. Way more than you had to be.”

“I wasn’t!” Hinata shouted. “This isn’t fair, I feel like a murderer!”

His voice quivered. With something as simple as his choice of words, something rang throughout Tetora.

He realized the similarity in how they felt. He was finally ready to accept that Hinata understood his pain.

He realized, again, he didn’t have to push him away.

“Is that really it, Hinata-kun?” Tetora shoved his hands in his pockets. “Is that why you did all that for me? For something simple like pity?”

Hinata shook his head. “It’s not. I don’t pity you at all.”

“Then... why?”

Hinata let out a weird strained sound that almost sounded like a “ha”. “Why? It’s something so much weirder than pity. I wish it could be pity.” Hinata looked at the ceiling. “Because I _like_ you, Tetsu-kun.”

“Huh?” Tetora belted out in his shock.

“Because I like you! You know, like the way your dads like each other!”

What?

“And I never ever would’ve admitted that in this sort of situation if I didn’t know it was the only thing I could say that had a chance of putting your heart at rest!”

“Umm…” Tetora dragged on. “I don’t… know what to say.”

“Nothing! Don’t say anything! Please!”

Tetora tried not to say anything. He really did.

But he couldn’t keep it to himself.

“... Thank you for talking with me, Hinata-kun.”

ー

Tetora came home with his brother when school was over. He’d talked to his brother just about as much as he had his fathers, which was close to none.

He was sure moping around their bedroom for days was stressful for his brother to sit and watch, so once it was obvious neither of his parents were in the house he flung open the door to the back porch and settled down on the steps outside. The hot rays of sun felt welcome on his body. He looked up at the sky. He wished for a cloud to stroll by, too, just so he could look at something and stop staring at the sun on accident. He blinked through the spots of color the sun left behind his eyes and just a few moments later, he noticed the clouds he wanted to see come by in a flock. They’re darker than he expected, and he wondered why there would be so many so soon before he felt a drop of rain splish on his foot. Even as the rain went further in intensity he didn’t withdraw his feet, the only part of his body not safe under the roof of the porch. He reached his hand out and felt dozens of droplets crash against his palm. It might be the perfect melancholy to accompany him. He dropped his shoulders as he wondered if this feeling would be able to kickstart his heart back in motion.

The door to the inside slid open behind him and he sat frozen for fear of discovering which of his family it could be. The footsteps that came from behind him were soft, which ruled out his step-father. When he sat down without a word at the top of the steps and Tetora could look over and recognize the same pattern that was on his own pants, he managed to breathe a sigh of relief.

It was his brother.

Which left him confused, that he would seek him out when he thought he was bothering him this whole time.

Midori set a tray down beside himself. Tetora was trying not to stare, he had the urge to keep up his dramatic appearance for as long as possible, but the tall cups on it had to be freshly steeped tea from the steam wafting up from them. His brother didn’t say anything about it. He didn’t say anything at all. Tetora let the silence stay for a while. He didn't have anything to say, either. They listened to the rain hit the roof and Tetora felt as it intensified on his bare feet.

The rain didn't stop, it only slowed down, but Tetora took a deep breath before he looked at the ceiling. It was a good opportunity to speak up and slice through that thick atmosphere. "Is that tea for me?" He asked.

"Yes," his brother affirmed. "I... thought it would help. But then I felt too dumb to give you it..."

Tetora looked back at him before he took one of the cups. He held it in his hands even though the warm weather made it a bit uncomfortable. "Thanks."

Midori shifted a few steps down to settle beside Tetora. He withdrew his feet and tucked them safely underneath his legs. He kept his thoughts to himself for a minute or two before he spoke. "Can I tell you something?" Midori said, quiet as a whisper. "Is it fine if I talk to you right now…?"

"... Yeah?"

"I'm sorry…"

Tetora shook his head. "I told you you don't have to be sorry."

"How am I supposed to help it…?" Midori groaned. "It feels really weird and, like it's my fault that I'm on better terms with your dad than you are right now."

"And yet he's _my_ dad again."

"I can't just… I can't just take him from you even if I want to. Your dad is a really good guy. He's been really worried about you too."

"You know that's the one thing I really don't want to talk about right now." Tetora sighed. "And I know that, too… That's what makes being mad at him so hard. But I'm just not ready to face him again yet. I've got… things to think about."

"Yeah. Sorry, but, umm… _I_ wanna talk about it right now. I think it might help…? Um, or maybe it isn't related at all."

Tetora glanced at him. "I think I wanna know."

"Okay. Well, obviously I don't know for sure if he ever told you this, but… I wanna tell you about it." Tetora looked over to his brother, resting his face on his raised knee. "Your dad… I think I might be the reason he adopted you. My dad said that too at some point, so… I don't know, I thought you would want to know but you can decide for yourself before I say anything else."

"I do want to know. I think you've got a lot of things I wanna know up there."

"Um, well… See, when your dad first came over for dinner with us, I pretended I didn't, but, I remembered him from when I was a kid… Even though my dad insisted I had to remember I thought it would be a real bother that I didn't want to get involved in. Of course my dad coaxed it out of him right away that he had a son in the same school as me, same year and everything…" Midori sighed. "I knew it was you and that I was already involved. It was so annoying."

"Wow. Umm…"

"No questions yet… I promise I'm not leaving you with just that. Um, the truth is, when I was a little kid, I was in grade school, I think, and our dads were already friends. I don't know too much about that part, but… My dad's been in the same career since then, filming on location and whatever he calls it, so he used to leave me alone a lot. He brought me when he could, like, on break, and sometimes they just let me miss the time from school, but when I had to be left all alone, it was fine, 'cos… your dad took care of me."

"Really? He babysat you? When you were…" Tetora blinked. "We're the same age, so…"

"Yeah, he didn't have a kid. Umm, my dad got someone else to do it when it was just like, for a few hours or a day or something, but when it was more than that I was always with your dad. I don't really get why, like he had a job and his own stuff going on like everybody else. He had to take like, time off work. I think. And when he couldn't he begged his boss to let me hang around and I just watched him. I was kind of scared of him, 'cos he's so much bigger than my dad, but they both kind of treated me the same?" Midori tilted his head. "Like… I mean, even the nicer of my dad's friends made it obvious they didn't wanna be taking care of me. They had things to do… I was old enough where I could at least understand that without feeling too bad. But… Your dad liked me. I think?"

"You're not sure?"

Midori looked to the side. "...No. I'm sure, I just feel weird telling you that now… He paid attention to me and he gave me piggy-back rides to school, he cooked me nice food, he explained whatever he was up to really patiently to me…" Midori rubbed his feet together awkwardly. "He even hugged me and held me and stuff. Umm… I dunno. I was like, small and stupid, but it felt like he needed me as much as I needed him."

"Umm… That's a lot to take in."

"Is this too much?"

Tetora shook his head. "...I want to hear more."

"'Kay… Well, that lasted for a while, but when I was… um, I wanna say eight… yeah… We moved somewhere else and I didn't see him anymore." Midori closed his eyes and made a sour face. "Ugh, I don't wanna say this… but I missed him. He was, like, second, scary Dad."

"What was so scary about him? Shouldn't you have gotten over that by then?"

"I was a kid. I can't tell you why I was scared of stuff. It's all irrational at that point, right? And I only saw him maybe… every two months. Um, only when school was in. But… um, like I said, I think spending time with me meant a lot to him." Midori made his sour face again. "This is more embarrassing… but when I thought about him being sad without me I would cry. I didn't realize just how much I missed him until you guys broke my stuff and he gave me Leobit… and then suddenly I felt this nostalgic euphoria. Like I was a kid again. Like my dad just handed me off to Kiryu-san, gave me a kiss on the head and left. So, it's like… why was he still there when I was supposed to be with my other dad? It's… weird… when it's both of them."

"Wow. I, uh... wouldn't have guessed any of that in a million billion years."

Midori hung his head back. "I know… But, um, that makes what I was saying make more sense, right?"

"Uh, which thing? You said a lot of things. I don't think I've ever heard you say that many things."

Midori side-eyed Tetora. "The first thing… That your dad adopted you because of me."

"... Yeah."

"We moved back a few months before I graduated middle school, but me and you kinda met before our dads reconnected. … Yeah, I'm pretty sure my dad told me right away when they started talking again. I actually _didn't_ remember exactly who he was the first time my dad mentioned him, not without a face to connect the dots with… but he told me he adopted his own kid after we left. I swear I didn't know it was you before he came over as my dad's new boyfriend and it all came flooding back." Midori straightened out his mouth as far as it could stretch. "Ugh, do you wanna hear this last part? It's unnecessary and embarrassing."

"I do. Please?"

Midori sighed. "... If I knew you were his kid, even if they never got together… I think… I still would've thought of you like you were my brother."

"Aw…! Don't be embarrassed.” Tetora couldn’t hold back the smile that crept on his face. “That's really nice. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy."

Midori covered his face. "You're making it worse!"

"... I know it's sucked sometimes, but I'm glad I have you."

Midori crossed his arms and buried his face in them.

Tetora turned to him and smiled. "You know… I always wanted a brother."

"I didn't."

Tetora's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"I never, _ever_ wanted a brother."

Tetora placed a hand on Midori's shoulder. It didn't hurt. He wasn't mad. He just wanted to understand him. So he just asked, "Why?"

"... I was adopted too… but it was nothing like you. My mom…" Midori nuzzled his arms. "She already had a son when she had me. He was a lot older. I don't know how much, but I think he must've been eight to ten years older than me… but I never want to know. I would rather die than meet either of them." Tetora rubbed Midori's shoulder. "My mom… She tried, but she couldn't take care of both of us. Apparently she didn't have the money or the time. So since she was friends with my dad, he agreed to take me off her hands for a while. Not forever… Just long enough for her to figure things out. But he said… the last he ever heard from her, she had left the country with my real brother. He couldn't get in touch with her at all anymore. I was two."

"... Oh my god."

"My dad told me that for a year or two… he still expected her to come out of nowhere and take me back." Midori lifted up his face. He was crying. "I was just left there with him. He probably didn't even want me either, but he had to raise me whether he wanted to or not." Tetora rubbed his brother's back while he wiped his own tears with his sleeve. "I sometimes wonder," his voice cracked and he wiped his face again. "I wonder if the only thing that kept me from a normal life was some stupid plane fare. Like, I don't know, that's how little my life is worth."

Tetora wrapped his brother in a big hug. "You're worth so much more than that to me. I love you and both our dads do too."

"I doubt it. My dad wouldn't even admit to me why our names didn't match up after I finally realized "Morisawa" wasn't some dumb character he played on TV. I was thirteen when he told me."

Tetora gave his brother a little distance. "Was it some sort of rite of passage thing?"

"No. I tore the heads off his toys 'til he told me. I was really mad that day 'cos some kids were mean to me at school. I was really close to the truth at that point, but he wouldn’t tell me any other way I tried." Midori wiped at his face again. "But, I don't know. Maybe he was right to keep it from me? I haven't felt like he loves me since I found out. He's such a liar that I can't believe him when he tells me. I don't wanna listen to him at all. None of it’s true. I feel… like a waste of time and space."

"Hey! I _promise_ your dad loves you. He talks about you all the time. He smiles and he has this look of pride in his eyes. Even after all this time. Even though you push him away at every turn, he loves you."

"That's not true!" Midori sobbed.

"If you can't believe him, can't you believe me? Can you believe my dad? All of us would tell you the exact same thing. We love you. Do you really think my dad would've gotten his own kid if the friend he babysat for told him how much it sucked to have one? Both of them have loved you for a really long time. I think you just don't want it to be true."

Midori shook his head and dropped his head on his knees. Tetora held him again.

"But I'm gonna love you even if you hate me. I'll protect you no matter what. 'Cuz I'm your big brother."

Midori shifted with sharp, janky movements and Tetora felt like he was about to get hit. But his brother held him back, loosely, carefully, and sobbed into his shoulder. Tetora rested his hand on his back and rubbed it gently.

He didn't lie. He loves his little brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i told my beta "wow i hope midoris backstory isnt too much" and she simply told me "you are writing ensemble stars fanfiction."


	11. Chapter 11

Tetora sat at his desk and stared at his bedroom door.

He came back inside the house with his brother an hour ago. He expected his father to come home any minute, and he gave it thought. A lot more thought than he wanted to.

He felt like he was ready to talk to his father.

It wasn’t fair for him to preach to his brother that he’s still receiving genuine love no matter how fake it feels without acknowledging how much Tetora’s father cares about him. Kuro has only shown him this one perfect side of himself the entire time they’ve had together. He hid the rest of him from Tetora for a reason, a reason Tetora protested against over and over because all he ever wanted was for his father to come clean and share his flaws with him, too. Was it fair for him to punish him for it? Is it the right choice to prove he was right to hide everything from him for all those years? The only thing Tetora felt sure about was that he had to talk to him.

He needed to forgive him.

For his father’s sake. For his brother, for himself, he was going to forgive him.

He heard the front door open and close from the silence of his bedroom and his heart started pounding up and down. He could talk a big game to himself in his head, but he was scared. The uncertainty of what could happen if he came out to talk to him scared him senseless. He couldn’t let go of all that uncharacteristic hostility in his memory and he couldn’t trust himself to expect how he was going to react now.

It would be okay, right? Was the worst that could happen really that bad?

Tetora took a shaky breath to try and compose himself. His eyes flicked to the wall, and his poster caught all his attention in an instant.

_“Brave like a tiger”._ Bravery was exactly what he needed. Tetora looked back to the door and nodded. He hardened his face while he got up to approach it.

He was already brave enough to face whatever he had to.

He walked to the door but it slid open before he could get his hand on it.

Chiaki's head poked in. "Tetora!" He shouted.

"Oh," Tetora said involuntarily. "You're not my dad."

Chiaki clenched his heart. "What are you saying?! I really thought we were starting toー"

"No, no, sorry, I meant to say I was expecting to see my dad!"

"Oh!" Chiaki giggled. "He hasn't come home yet. It's just me." He opened the door a little further. "Can I talk to you for a bit?"

"I've had a lot of people say that to me today," Tetora noticed. He shrugged. "What's one more?"

"I'm glad to hear so many people care about you." Chiaki invited himself into the room and shut the door behind him. "I wanted to talk to you about this as soon as possible, see, but your father insisted we give you some space. That was just about impossible for me to pull off. And… I haven't actually gotten the okay to approach you yet, but I can't stand to leave this be any longer."

Tetora felt a little queasy. "Am I in trouble?"

Chiaki shook his head. "No. You're not in trouble, Tetora." He sat on Tetora's bed and patted the space next to him. "I just want to talk."

Irritated as he was for Chiaki to just sit on his bed without permission, Tetora sat down next to him.

"Are you feeling alright?" Chiaki asked.

Tetora shrugged again. "I feel somewhat better now," he admitted. "I, um… I wanna talk to Dad about it now but I'm kinda scared. Is he mad at me?"

"No. Not even a little bit. He's just concerned. He confided in me that you've never done something like that before."

"Yeah… I'm not proud of it. But, he's never done anything like that before either. I really don't know how I'm supposed to feel." Tetora hugged himself loosely. "Is he still mad at you? Or, are you mad at him?"

Chiaki shook his head. "We had a good, long, proper discussion about our feelings. You don't need to worry about us. Ah, but there was something you said the other day." Tetora slumped in anticipation. "I promise I love your father. I love him like I never have before! Which, I mean to say, I've never had one of my lovers rival my love for my son like this. I feel so lucky because he actually loves me back, too. We would never have done something this stupid if we didn't have this strong and nonsensical love for each other. We aren't going _anywhere_." Chiaki laughed and reached his arm over Tetora's shoulder to which he begrudgingly let it stay. "How naive I was to think since we got along so well we wouldn't have these kinds of problems! Especially when we'd had some quarrels back in the day… Though, most of them were small enough that we resolved them on the spot. At this age I didn't think they could get drawn out like this. I hoped at the least you and your brother wouldn't get involved."

"You guys dropped that ball," Tetora said. "Hard."

"I know. I can't apologize enough."

"I'm sick'a people apologizin' to me…"

"Then I'll leave it at that! Isn't that nice?" Chiaki made an audible thinking noise. "Okay, I tied up that loose end. Is there something else that will make you feel better?"

"Yeah. Why aren't I in trouble? You backed out on punishing me? I did something real bad but no one will blame me for it. I don't understand."

"Your father and I made a joint decision that it wasn't that big of a problem. We pushed you to it, didn't we? It wouldn't be right."

"What was the point of banning karate if the ban didn't even matter? Just to make me miserable?"

"No, it… It seemed necessary at the time." Chiaki retracted his arm and knit his fingers in his lap. "Nothing actually happened, so I can't find it in myself to punish you. Maybe we shouldn't have done it in the first place."

Tetora brought his legs up to his body and hugged them. "This is all because you feel bad for me, huh. I really don't like that. It's making me feel real terrible to have everyone's attention, pity and special treatment. I just wanna feel normal."

"Do you want me to ground you? Should we lift the ban permanently?"

"Why is it my decision whether I get punished or not…? See, that's what makes me upset no matter how I look at it."

"Ah, that is the entire problem, isn't it?" Chiaki took a breath. "Tetora, I was very disappointed in you. I didn't think breaking a rule we all agreed on like that was in line with your character. I was not happy."

Tetora, even after he begged for it, felt his heart sink. A few tears pushed at his eyes. "Okay."

"I admit, neither of us really thought about how we were hurting you two until you spoke up and told us how you felt. That was very important for me to hear. I won't be able to forget it." Chiaki looked to the ceiling. "Doing one thing and then going behind your father's back to reassure you everything was actually fine wasn't a good move at all. We shouldn't have put you through our arguments in the first place. I thought about it. Then I thought about it, and then I thought of it again and again, and after a while I came to the same conclusion every time; I was astronomically more disappointed in myself than I could hope to be with you. Just this once, I still feel like I have to take the loss and let you get out of jail free. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you and then hurt you more for rebelling against my abhorrent attitude just so I could pretend like I had it together all along."

Tetora softly nodded. "... I think I get it."

"I knew you would if I managed to explain it proper. You're a smart young man, Tetora!" Chiaki's arm found its way back on Tetora's shoulder. "I already love you to bits and pieces. I'm so proud that I get to be your father too. Did you know that?"

Tetora gave an awkward smile. "You tell me that every day."

"You'll have to forgive me, I missed two days over the weekend!" Chiaki laughed. "I love you, Tetora. I know you love me too, and I just hope one day you'll say it back!"

"Yeah…" Tetora sat his chin on his knees. "I don't think I'm good at dealing with it when people tell me they love me. I don't know what I'm 'sposed to do."

Chiaki shook Tetora. "You tell them you love them! Even if it doesn't make any sense, I say I love you back to the love I am given. Just say it, you'll feel so much better!"

"I'm not really talking about you."

"Ah! How self-centered of me!"

"Umm…" Tetora guided Chiaki's arm off him. "You've loved plenty, right? Can I talk to you about one more thing? It's like… personal."

"Anything, anything at all! I'm always here for my special little guy."

"What am I…" Tetora groaned. "I change my mind. I don't wanna."

"No, that isn't fair to either of us!" Chiaki turned himself to face Tetora properly. "You want to tell me so bad, don't you? You'll feel better if you tell me what's on your mind."

"Fine…" Tetora squished his face on his knee. "What am I 'sposed to do if my friend admits to havin' a crush on me? Well... I guess my problem is, how am I 'sposed to know how I feel about my friend after that?"

"What are youー" Chiaki jumped in his seat and clenched his heart. "A love confession?! A love confession has crashed against my little guy like a cold ocean wave?!"

Tetora covered his face. "I don't wanna talk about it in-depth with you! That's so embarrassing!" He uncovered it right away. "Just tell me how I figure it out."

"Ah… I've failed you. I can't help you with that. There isn't one, or even two split ways to go about it. You need to decide that for yourself."

"That's not what I wanted to hear at all."

"Sorry! It's a really complicated matter. I believe in you, though. Just give it time and you'll figure it out."

"Time, huh…" Tetora bonked his head against Chiaki's shoulder. "Thanks for talking to me…" He smiled sheepishly. "Dad."

"Ah…!" Chiaki dove to wrap Tetora up in his arms. "Yes! I'm so happy, I love you!" He checked his watch. "Agh, the time! To think I have to cut our little moment so short when I want it to last for forever! I need to go out and buy some things for dinner." He separated himself and pat Tetora on the back. "Do you want something from the store? Anything!"

Tetora thought. "Umm… Pudding."

"Chocolate, right?"

Tetora nodded.

Chiaki hopped off the bed. "Got it! I'll be back with it before you know it."

Tetora waited until Chiaki was almost out of the room before he spoke up again. “Dad?” Chiaki’s head whipped around. “If you can find Midori-kun… I get the feeling he’ll let you hug him right now too.”

Chiaki smiled and rushed out of the room. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take any day!”

His door shut again. He had to laugh when he heard his brother screech in the next room.

ー

Tetora sat at the couch on his phone waiting, again, for his father to come home. Either of them would be fine. One would give him catharsis while the other would give him pudding.

An hour or so after Chiaki left, the front door opened again and Kuro stepped into the house. Tetora looked up at him, but he couldn’t help but look over and then away in small glances. Kuro looked relieved and miserable all at once.

“Tetsu,” his father softly said.

Tetora had a lot he needed to talk to him about. He had to talk about everything all over again. He knew that, but once he saw his father tears welled up in his eyes. He got up to his feet to approach him, and as he stood in front of him his brain purged every little thing he was ready to say to him that seemed so important. Kuro looked down at him but Tetora looked down, too.

“I’m sorry,” Kuro admitted.

Just like that, Tetora’s arms flew around his father’s waist and squeezed him tight.

"Are you alright? Get enough space?" Kuro asked.

Tetora nodded against his chest. “'m sorry I was so bad,” his voice cracked.

“No, don’t apologize to me.” Kuro held him in his arms. He swayed him gently back and forth for a minute before he spoke again. “I’m so ashamed of how I’ve been acting. I was being a spoiled child instead of an adult, and as your father... I ain't got no excuses for that. I could never blame you for losing your patience with me, so don’t you dare go blaming yourself.”

Tears escaped from Tetora’s eyes. “But I was bein’ so stupid too.”

“We can both regret it,” Kuro said. “You can cry, too, but you can’t let it hold you down. All you can do is learn from it.” He rubbed Tetora’s back. “Learning… It hurts like hell. I know. I wish I could tell you there would be a day where you don’t gotta do it no more, but the best I can do for you is help you get along with it. I can’t ever let you down like this again.”

"It does hurt. It hurts so much it loops back to nothing."

"I know."

"It's gonna hurt forever?"

Kuro shook his head. "No. You'll find your reprieve."

His father kissed the top of his head. Tetora, for the first time in what felt like forever, felt comforted.

"You got anything else you wanna hear from me?" Kuro asked.

Tetora nodded. "An excuse. It can’t be all your fault, so I wanna hear one even if you don't wanna make 'em. I just wanna understand you, Dad. I don't wanna force you to keep things from me just 'cuz you don't know if I'm gonna like it."

"An excuse…" Kuro sighed. "This marriage thing's harder'n I thought. Lettin' myself be a baby about it's just stupid though, so you can hit me if I try and pull that stunt again."

"Then I will."

"Atta boy."

"I love you, Dad," Tetora said with tears in his eyes.

Kuro nuzzled his face against Tetora's hair while he belted tears against his father's chest. "I love you. I'm so proud of you… You mean the world to me." Kuro lifted his face up. "... Midori? What's up?"

Tetora looked to their side. Midori stood a good bit away watching them have their moment. "I…" He started to say. His lip quivered.

Kuro opened one of his arms and motioned him closer. "C'mon."

"I don't…" Midori sighed. He gave up to come and loosely put one arm over each of them before Kuro wrapped him up in their hug.

Tetora squeezed his father again. "Midori-kun told me he missed you," he tattled.

"Shut up!" Midori shrieked.

"Hey…" Kuro smiled. "That true? I missed you too, buddy. Missed you so much."

Midori pressed his face into his shoulder and he cried, too.

The front door opened. "AHH!" Chiaki shouted from the door frame. He dropped his groceries and bolted towards them without even taking off his shoes. "GROUP HUG!"

"No, don't you dare!" Midori shouted.

Chiaki jumped at them and enveloped the whole group with his arms. "Ah, this is like a dream! I get to hold my whole family in my arms at the same time! The entire world wrapped in my grasp!"

"Nobody wants you here, Dad!" Midori bit again.

"I want you here," Tetora said.

"Aww! Tetoraa!" Chiaki cooed.

"Midori-kun wants you here too," Tetora rubbed in.

"No!" Midori shouted.

"What?! Midori!" Chiaki shook everyone back and forth. "It was true all along, wasn't it? Even though you hit me about it earlier! I'm so happy!"

Midori struggled. "You snitch… I'm going to kill you!"

Kuro squeezed tighter. "No you ain't. Pin 'im down, honey."

Chiaki held Midori in place. "Of course!"

"NO!!!" Midori screamed in desperation.

Tetora laughed under the growing intensity of the hug. He got to laugh from his belly and forget about the tears staining his face.

Because he finally had his own family.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i uploaded two chapters at the same time! please make sure you opened the right one!! (:

The next day, during lunchtime at school, Tetora poked his head into a foreign classroom. He took a deep breath and walked in once he spotted him at his seat. He got a little closer and realized… That was Yuta. Hinata isn’t in the room, he thought until he jumped on his back from behind.

“Tetsu-kun!” Hinata shouted. “Who are you looking for? Stop shouting! Who?!”

Tetora wrestled Hinata off him. “Hinata-kun! Do you know how bad you just scared me?!” He exclaimed.

“A lot!” Hinata affirmed.

Tetora sighed. “I was lookin’ for you. I thought you weren’t here.”

“That’s because I was looking for you, too!”

“Oh,” Tetora said. “I thought you would be avoiding me today.”

Hinata cocked his head to the side. “Really? Why would I do that?”

“You couldn’t have forgotten, right…? Yesterday you told meー"

Hinata covered Tetora’s mouth. “Oh, no, no I didn’t! That was a dream, silly Tetsu-kun, not something that actually happened.”

Tetora ripped his hand away. “No it wasn’t!”

“Drat. I thought that would work.” Hinata huffed for a second before he smiled again. “Do we _really_ have to talk about that?”

Tetora nodded and Hinata sighed.

“If we have to, then I guess we will…” Hinata grabbed Tetora’s wrist. “In the hallway, please?”

Tetora let himself get dragged into the hallway, far enough away from the doors for there to be no eavesdroppers. Hinata crossed his arms and waited for Tetora to start talking. “Soo,” Tetora started. “Um, I think everything’s fine with me and my family now. Thank you for talking with me, but I _am_ sorry you ever got involved in all’a that.”

“Oh, that! That’s fine! Really, it is just so fine~.”

“And I wanna respond to your feelings proper.”

Hinata gagged.

“I’m going to talk about this whether you want me to or not," Tetora insisted. "Because, um… I don’t think I can give you the response you’re looking for, really.”

Hinata covered his face and squealed like a dying pig.

“No, I’m not done! Stop it! I’m not rejecting you.” Tetora felt his face get hotter. “I think? I think I’m not rejecting you, but I’m not accepting your feelings either? I don’t understand how I feel right now and I have a lot going on in my situation so I. Need to think about it. A lot. So, I can’t respond to your feelings for me right now. Does that make sense?”

Hinata made cracks with his fingers and looked through them. “That’s it?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Annnd… We can still be friends?”

Tetora nodded.

“Oh, Tetsu-kun! That’s the best response I ever hoped for!” Hinata flew in for a hug. “I get to be your friend forever, no matter what I say to you!”

“I don’t particularly care for the phrasing there, but yeah.”

Tetora stood awkwardly and waited for the hug to end. He was kind of tired of hugs.

ー

A month later marked Tetora's seventeenth birthday. The sun had just started to set, and Tetora was walking home with his friends from school after celebrating together.

He came home with his brother and walked through the doorway to gaze upon a dark house.

"Hello?" Tetora called, flicking on the lightswitch. In the next instant a party popper going off in his face scared him senseless.

"SURPRISE!" Chiaki screamed.

"Surprise!" Kuro followed at a much lower volume.

Tetora stood with his eyes wide open while he recomposed himself.

"This is so cliche… The oldest trick in the book," Midori sighed. "Lame."

Rude as he was, his brother was right. It was his birthday. How did he fall for the old lights-off-party-popper trick?

After dinner, he sat at the table with his birthday cake while his father lit the candles. Kuro shook out the match and ran off in a hurry where he pulled out his phone.

"I wanna get a picture," Kuro said.

"Noo!" Tetora whined. "Aren't I too old for that by now?"

Kuro shook his head. "Pictures 'til the day I die, buddy." He held his phone up and motioned for the non-birthday boys to get in position.

Chiaki and Midori bent down on either side of Tetora and smiled. Kuro snapped a few pictures and he smiled, too. He looked down at his phone with this nostalgic look.

"I can't believe this." Kuro wiped at his eyes and pretended there were tears. "My little guy is already so grown up…"

"Dad, don't get allー"

Chiaki tackled Tetora. "I can't believe it either! I've gotten to watch you grow up to be such a fine young man over all these years! Really, the spitting image of your fathers! Aghh, it could even move me to tears!"

"This is the first birthday you've known me for!" Tetora exclaimed.

"But my heartー My heart feels like it's been to every birthday party you've ever had!" Chiaki shook him. "Isn't our bond just that deep, my son?!"

"I dunno about that," Tetora admitted.

His fathers let him blow out his candles and eat cake without any more interruptions. They got more embarrassingly sentimental towards him before he could run away. The sappy handwritten card Kuro got him almost moved him to tears right in front of everyone. He managed to escape by just getting a little misty. He could cry about it to himself later.

He didn't get to see the pictures his father took until later, when he sat with him on his bed and got to see all the other ones he snapped less ceremoniously too.

"When did your father get cake on his face like that?" Kuro asked.

"You didn't notice? You're the one who took the picture," Tetora said. "He started eating it stupid as a joke and he wouldn't clean it off."

Kuro chuckled. "He's so fuckin' weird." He swiped to a new photo on his phone. "This one's so cute," he remarked.

Tetora pointed. "Dad's got his eyes mid-blink in that one."

Kuro laughed again. "He ruin all the damn photos?" He swiped to the next one. "I love this one. Is'so cute."

He said that about the last one. "I guess…"

"My guys're just too cute. I can't take it. Makin' my heart explode." He hummed. "I don't got a choice, do I? Gonna have to make that one my new background."

"What?" Tetora squinted. "What happened to your two favorite people?"

"Well it ain't everybody, but three of four's pretty good." Kuro slung his arm around Tetora's shoulder. "We're just gonna have to get one with all my favorite people when we see your aunt this winter, huh?"

Tetora leaned his head on his father and smiled. "Yeah. I can't wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading my story! i never made something anywhere near as long as this and im just glad it turned out well! even if it took me 8 months to publish a product that was already 80% finished at time of posting?!
> 
> this whole story was one stupid idea that spiralled far, far out of my control. this whole idea was originally inspired by [this picture](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7327314636046e1ff4e9ed5bd6b3805e/133a55a109f1ee23-f8/s1280x1920/41f9afccf584a05bb78aed0656e37e3fc0d7043c.jpg)! wow!
> 
> thank you for reading, again!


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